Posts on Linux Gaming Central

A Beginner's Guide to Using Kazeta

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:30:22 -0400

There’s a renaissance in the return to physical media. Are you, dear reader, also getting fatigued by digital subscription services, and would rather physically own your games in the palm of your hand? Are you also concerned with big-name publishers suddenly delisting some of your favorite titles from digital storefronts, without any way to get them back? Then look no further: Kazeta has got you covered.

Kazeta Definition

So, firstly, what is Kazeta? After all, “Kazeta” isn’t exactly a word that you hear every day. The word “Kazeta” is Czech for “cassette”. You could also think of it being translated as “cartridge”. That’s the purpose of Kazeta: it’s an operating system that you can install on your computer, create your own “cartridges” using physical media, and replicate the simplicity of the way video game consoles worked in the 80s and 90s: just plug in your cartridge, turn the computer on, and play.

If you’ve ever used ChimeraOS, you’ll be happy to know Kazeta is developed by the same person: Alesh Slovak. dash from The Bryant Review did an interview with him – be sure to check it out for a more detailed behind-the-scenes look as to why Kazeta was made!

Why Kazeta?

There are many preservation projects out there that are trying to “revive” the physical era of gaming. Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) consoles, such as the Analogue 3D and the SuperStation One, are noble attempts to bring retro consoles back-to-life with more modern features. But these are expensive, and if you don’t own the original cartridges for your older systems, buying them through third-party retailers such as eBay is going to cost you another small fortune. Oftentimes you are also locked to a small handful of platforms that the console supports. So you typically wouldn’t have access to PC games.

Image credit: InLineR from the Kazeta Discord

Kazeta sort of “bridges” this gap. Kazeta can emulate some of your favorite consoles of all time, such as the Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, and Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), while still giving you that sense of physical ownership – by means of putting your games and ROMs on external media, such as SD cards and USB flash drives. (This is assuming, of course, that you own the original cartridges and have dumped them by whatever means necessary.) You also have the benefit of running native Linux games, or Windows games via the Windows runtime. Kazeta can also make use of your existing hardware; you don’t have to buy a dedicated device for this. You can use any PC you have lying around and turn it into a console-like machine.

Pros and Cons

As alluded to on the official website, there are several advantages to having a cartridge-based system, as opposed to a digital-only gaming machine:

no installers, no game updates, no logins, no Internet, no nagging notifications, no DRM, no complex menus, no BS: just get straight into the action
best performance for your games, since there’s no desktop environment and no software clients running in the background eating up your computer’s resources
preservation: you own the game for as long as you own the cartridge that runs it
ease of use for those who are technically challenged
better parental control over what games their kids can or can’t play

There are, however, a few caveats that you should be aware of:

the initial groundwork, such as setting up a cartridge, takes a bit of effort and some know-how
because of the DRM-free nature of Kazeta, some existing games in your library may not work, such as games with Denuvo DRM, or anti-cheat software
some games will have the D-pad inverted
unless the game you’re playing has a built-in controller configuration menu, you have no way of customizing your controls
some cartridges will fail to boot. The troubleshooting process for this is very tedious

Development of Kazeta is also very slow-paced. The initial release was back in August of 2025. There’s been a few commits to the Kazeta GitHub repository since then, but there hasn’t been any new releases.

Image credit: Loratadine Niacin from the Kazeta Discord

The way I can think of it, is like this: Kazeta can be great for LAN parties, or bringing it over to a friend’s house. You might be tech-savvy yourself. You set up the system, set up the cartridges, and bring them over to a friend’s house. This friend of yours doesn’t need to know about the work that you did to set everything up. You just hook up the console to a TV, insert your controllers and your cart, turn the system on, and start playing. No downtime since there’s no logins, no updates to download. When you want to move on to another game, you just simply shut the system off, take out the cart, put a different one in, and turn it on again.

So, despite the work involved in creating cartridges, Kazeta is useful for simplicity and minimal downtime after the groundwork has been laid. People who hate technology will appreciate the work someone else did so that they can play the games that they want (for example, Alkazar’s Mom would have never played Tetris had it not been for Kazeta). Hopefully that makes sense.

Kazeta+ addresses some of the flaws of Kazeta, but for the sake of this tutorial, we’ll just focus on Kazeta.

What You Need

Here’s what you’ll need if you want to set up a Kazeta console:

a PC to download and flash the Kazeta ISO, as well as for setting up your carts
a USB flash drive
another PC that you’ll set up as your “console”. If said “console” doesn’t have an internal SD card reader, you’re also going to want to have a USB adapter for them if you want to use SD cards as cartridges
a TV or monitor for said “console” (handhelds aren’t recommended)
“cartridges”: this will be your physical media containing your games. This could be SD cards or USB flash drives. I recommend using SD cards so you can affix labels to them
a keyboard and a controller
your digital library of games – whether they’re from GOG, itch.io, Humble, Steam, Epic Games, etc. Note though that some games aren’t DRM-free. You can check PCGamingWiki for a list of DRM-free Steam games

Please note the following is not supported:

hybrid graphics
virtual machines
dual-booting from the same hard drive
secure boot/legacy/bios
Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST)

As far as the hardware requirements for your “console” are concerned, it’s fairly open-ended. It can be pretty much any PC that has at least 4 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal hard drive space, and is no older than 10 years old. I personally am using the Minisforum UM890 Mini PC with 16 GB of RAM and 64 GB of NVMe storage.

I recommend using an AMD-based system, since generally AMD has the best compatibility with Linux. Obviously, the CPU and GPU are going to be dependent on the sort of games you want to play. AMD users will need a GPU that’s at least the Radeon RX 400 series or newer. On the NVIDIA side, the GPU needs to be from the GTX 1600 series or newer. Intel GPUs are reported as having “poor game compatibility”.

This guide assumes you’re using a Linux-based computer for setting up cartridges. Windows does not natively support formatting external media as ext4, which is the file system your cartridges will be using. You still can technically get through this guide by using workarounds for ext4 support on Windows, but I am not offering support for those of you who have issues along the way.

Installing Kazeta

1. Download the ISO

On your computer, head over to the official Kazeta website and click “Download”. That will scroll the page down to the “Download Now” button. Clicking said button will download the Kazeta ISO, which is about 2.5 GB in size.

2. Flash the ISO

Insert your USB flash drive. If you’re using Linux, I recommend using Popsicle to flash the ISO, since it’s very easy to use. Otherwise, you can use Balena Etcher for cross-platform support. According to the Kazeta Wiki, Ventoy and Rufus are not supported.

Instructions for flashing the ISO are going to be dependent on what software you’re using. With Popsicle, simply select the Kazeta ISO, then select the drive you want to flash the ISO to. Enter your sudo password, then give it a few moments.

3. Install Kazeta

Once the ISO has been flashed, disconnect it from your computer and connect it to your “console”. Plug in a keyboard. Turn the “console” on and spam F7 (or F8, or whatever function key the “console” manufacturer set the boot menu to) during the BIOS splash sequence. Select your USB flash drive from the menu.

Installation of Kazeta is straightforward. If multiple hard drives are detected in your “console”, the installer will ask what disk you want to install Kazeta to. Otherwise, just proceed with the installation. You’ll get a warning that everything on the hard drive will be formatted and deleted. After a few minutes, once the install process is complete, reboot your “console”.

If everything went well you should be presented with the Kazeta BIOS. From here, you can insert your “cartridges”, whether they’re a SD card or a USB flash drive, and select the “PLAY” button to play them, or manage your save data in the “DATA” menu.

Creating Cartridges

On your PC, connect your removable media. Formatting your removable media as ext4 is going to be dependent on what software you’re using. For example, if you’re using KDE Plasma, you would likely be using “KDE Partition Manager”. On GNOME, you’d be using “Disks”. When formatting, ensure casefolding is disabled. For the label name, don’t use any spaces or special characters.

Here you can see I’m formatting a 32 GB SD card with Disks, setting dudelings as the label name, and specifying the file system as ext4.

A Kazeta “cartridge” will have the following contents on it:

the game itself
a 32x32 or 64x64 PNG icon. This will be seen in the “DATA” menu when managing your save data
a metadata file (.kzi) that contains information for the cartridge, such as the name of the game, execution parameters, what runtime should be used, etc.
(usually) a runtime file (.kzr) that gives the game the necessary dependencies in order for it to run. In some cases the game binary will already have all of the necessary dependencies for it to run (such as AppImages), so a runtime file isn’t needed

To give you an idea of how this would work, I will be walking through the installation of the Celeste 64 game cart provided on the Kazeta Wiki.

The Celeste 64 Sample Cart

Download the Celeste 64 sample cart on the Kazeta Wiki. Both a native Linux version and a Windows version are provided. Simply extract the contents of the tarball to the root of your removable media. So the root of your removable media would look something like this now:

a “content” folder containing the Celeste 64 game files
an icon.png file
a cart.kzi file

Inside of the “content” folder we have the game files. Importantly, the Celeste64 binary.

Notice the contents of the cart.kzi file:

Name=Celeste 64
Id=celeste-64
Exec=cd content && ./Celeste64
Icon=icon.png

This metadata file defines the name of the game, the game ID, the execution parameters that direct what executable to run, and the icon file path.

If, on the other hand, you were to use the Windows version of the Celeste 64 sample cart, the cart.kzi file would look like this:

Name=Celeste 64
Id=celeste-64w
Exec="content/Celeste64.exe"
Icon=icon.png
Runtime=windows

Notice a few key differences:

a “w” is appended to the game ID, to help us distinguish that we’re using the Windows version of the cartridge
the execution parameters are encapsulated in quotation marks: this allows us to use spaces, if there are any in the executable file name
a runtime file is specified. This is because we need to have the Windows runtime file stored on the removable media in order to run the game

To run this game on Kazeta, all you need to do now is safely eject the cartridge from your computer, connect it to your Kazeta console, and select “PLAY” from the BIOS. Or just simply turn the console off, insert the cartridge, and turn the console back on. The console should instantly boot to the game!

Making Your Own

But let’s say you wanted to make your own cartridge. In this guide, I will be walking through the process of creating a Dudelings cart, but the same principle can be applied for any other game.

Dudelings can be purchased either through Steam or itch.io. Dudelings is DRM-free, regardless of where you bought it. Once you’ve downloaded the game, copy the contents of it to your removable media. Next, we’ll need the Linux runtime, so download it from the Kazeta Wiki. Place the runtime to the root of your removable media.

We need an icon. An easy way of obtaining game icons is through SteamGridDB. Search for “dudelings” in the search bar. Click “Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball (2024)” in the search list. Click “ICONS”. We need to make sure the icon is 32x32, or 64x64, and is in PNG format. You can filter these results while browsing for the appropriate icon. If no icons are available with these specifications, you can use a tool like GIMP to convert it later on. In the case of Dudelings, there already is a 64x64 icon in PNG format. Select it, and click “DOWNLOAD”. From there, right-click the image in the new browser tab that opens, select “Save image as…”, then save it to the root of your removable media. I recommend setting the file name as icon.png, but this isn’t necessary. Just make sure it’s something easy to remember.

Finally, we need to create the .kzi (Kazeta information) file. Create a new .kzi file on the root of your removable media with a text editor. Make sure it has the following:

the name of the game
the ID of the game. Make sure this doesn’t have any spaces or special characters
the path to the game binary
the path to the icon
the name of the runtime

So, let me give you an example of what my dudelings.kzi file would look like:

Name=Dudelings
Id=dudelings
Exec=dudelings/dudelings_linux_build.x86_64
Icon=icon.png
Runtime=linux

I have the contents of the Dudelings game inside of a “dudelings” folder. The .kzi, Linux runtime, and icon files are stored on the root of my removable media.

Create a Report (Optional but Recommended)

Whether or not you have success running any particular game, the community would appreciate it if you add an entry for it on KazetaDB. Similar to ProtonDB, KazetaDB retains a database of community-tested reports on various games, and will tell you whether a game works out-of-the-box, needs some workarounds, or just straight up won’t run at all.

First, using the search bar, find out if the game you’re running has already been reported on. If not, you can log in to KazetaDB via your Steam account. Click “Submit Report” from the top-right, then start filling out the details to the best of your ability.

There’s a GUI for That

If you’d rather not create the .kzi files by hand, there’s a tool that will make your life a bit easier: KZI Cartridge Generator. This application auto-types the game ID for you as you enter the Game Name, allows you to fetch icons for your games via SteamGridDB in just a few clicks, download runtimes directly through the user interface, test games locally before running them on your console, and a lot more. See the GitHub README for more details.

Decorating Your Cartridges

To get that special look-and-feel if you’re using SD cards, you can affix custom labels to them. You can use a dedicated printing service for this and have the labels shipped to you. Or you could create your own using a printer and adhesive glossy photo paper. You can use a labeling template, such as the one Avery or OnlineLabels supply. Then when you’re done and have it printed out, you could cut the labels out with scissors, peel the adhesive off, and put them on the SD card. This will not only make it easier for you to distinguish which cart has which game, but also make your SD card collection look a lot more professional.

Discord user Calyder has provided some beautiful examples of what your cartridges could look like with jewel cases.

Image credit: Calyder from the Kazeta Discord

Troubleshooting

There will likely be a game or two that just won’t work. If so, you can head over to the Kazeta Discord and create a post in the #help channel. We’ll try to help you out to the best of our ability. If you’d rather not use Discord, you can also file an issue on the Kazeta GitHub.

Cover image credit: Luke Short Cloud

"Didn't You Say You Were Done?"

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 15:16:21 -0500

I know, there’s confusion. “Wait, didn’t you say you were going to retire?” Yes. Yes I did. Those 18 months of me no longer being a content creator was a much-needed break. As time went on, however, and I started to feel better, I could think a little more clearly. As I had alluded to on my sister site, The Outcaster’s Notebook, the lack of social media consumption, as well as the lack of association with certain individuals, has paid off. I’m in a much better mental state now than I was in before.

Today marks four years of LGC. Well, four years since I founded the site, anyway. So, what made me want to return?

Why the Return?

Well, truth be told, I miss you guys.

I missed getting the feedback. There were some articles here that generated some interesting discussions. And, if you thought you liked some of my articles, know that a lot of your comments have lifted my spirits up just as much as yours. I don’t get that in the real world. Not in my day-to-day job or my other routines. So, founding LGC was sort of discovering this little gold nugget amidst a haystack. Even if I don’t know any of you personally. Even though I haven’t seen most of your faces. It let me know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

That, and a lot of rad projects had been coming to the surface that the reporter nature in me just could not resist to talk about. The foremost example being Kazeta. When Alkazar had been talking about this with me several months ago, it was love at first sight. The idea of having physical “cartridges” for your games, the replication of the simplicity of gaming consoles of the 90s, the retro sound effects of the user interface…I needed it in my life.

Another reason, is it just seemed a little silly of me to throw all of my hard work out the window. This website contains over two-and-a-half years’ worth of content. The interviews in particular I wanted to preserve. Not only do they age a lot better than most articles; it would be a disservice for those who I had interviewed to no longer have their responses recorded.

Looking back, I realize at the time I made the announcement post that I was going to shut down, I was frankly self-centered. I had wanted to earn just a little something back for all that hard work I did, as far as monetary compensation was concerned. But, alas, that would take the fun right out of being a content creator. Being paid for it would make writing a job. I don’t need to have the added stress of feeling like I got another job aside from the one I’ve got now. I want to go back to the way LGC was when I found it back in 2022: just a fun, part-time hobby. Without all the complications that come with trying to chase algorithms, clicks, and pennies.

What’s Changed?

You might have noticed, however, since the time I re-launched the site back in September, the pacing of article releases has slowed down drastically. I intend to keep it that way. I’ve finally managed to overcome the urge to just write out everything that I see, whether it be a software update that 500 other media outlets have already talked about, or something a person said on X. Writing at my own pace has made it a lot less stressful for me. At the same time, it also gives me an opportunity to focus on topics that no one else covers. I will still likely talk about and review games once in a while.

There is a bit of a catch though. LGC was using Cactus Comments as the commenting system for a while. I used this to make commenting as humanely easy as possible, and it did its job. After some time, it just wasn’t working anymore. Turns out, according to one of the developers from the Matrix server, it’s a Synapse database issue:

It would appear the only solution to this would be to a self-hosted Matrix server. While it is possible, and I have attempted it myself a few months ago, unfortunately I haven’t had any success. Frankly, the process is very complicated. Which sucks. Because a lot of you put much of your heart into your comments that you’ve left me in times past, and, until I can figure this out, I have no way of recovering those comments. I can only hope that, in due time, I will retrieve those missing pearls. I read every single comment you all had left me in my retirement post. They may not physically be there right now, on the page, but I still have them committed to memory.

In the meantime, I’ve incorporated a different commenting system: Isso. Like Cactus Comments, this system doesn’t require anyone to register for an account: just leave your name, your comment, and click Submit.

Since I’m no longer using social media, if you want to keep up-to-date with articles that are posted here, the old-fashioned RSS feed is your best bet. I may occasionally post some of my articles over on Reddit.

A Thank You to…

Of course, as I had mentioned earlier, I thank those of you who always had something interesting to contribute toward whatever discussion I had created through your comments. But, more specifically, I wanted to thank the following:

Alesh Slovak (aka Alkazar). For his Kazeta project. For providing the foundation that many other gaming-oriented distros, including SteamOS, followed suit: ChimeraOS. For lifting my spirits up during the times I needed it the most.
Luke Short Cloud. Luke hasn’t changed at all since the time we first knew each other. He’s always composed some of the most beautiful, heartfelt, encouraging comments to me, and that despite his crazy work schedule, he still finds the time to send me that occasional DM that gets me out of my deepest pits. You should really show some love to his winesapOS project; it’s a niche distro that deserves to at least get checked out for its unique “portability” factor.
Eamonn Rea (aka sonic2kk). Eamonn works on steamtinkerlaunch, ProtonUp-Qt, and several other software projects. They’ve (usually) been the first one to comment on most of my posts. They’ve always been positive, and I greatly appreciated them.
Stelios Tsampas (aka loathingkernel). Stelios was one of the first people that reached out to me when I wrote my retirement post and let me know I wasn’t alone in my struggles. If you’re looking for an alternative to Heroic Games Launcher, you should give one of the projects they work on, Rare, a shot.

Am I missing someone? Please let me know! I strongly dislike anyone being left out. You can either let me know here in the comments, or use the old-fashioned email. If any of you still use Discord, I tend to hang around a lot on the Kazeta Discord server, so you can reach out to me there too.

An Ode to the Steam Deck

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:22:14 -0500

Back when I was in eighth grade, I had ambitions. Or, at least, I wanted to be ambitious. The GameCube was still a relatively “old” console at that time. The Wii had already been out for four years. Yet, even back then, I had held the GameCube in such a high regard that I wanted to create a portable version of it. I had been inspired by some of the projects I had seen in the late 2000s. There was one modder in particular who described in a video the process of how he created his own portable GameCube. As he was explaining how he had soldered and crammed the components together into a singular, small-enough device that could be held in your hands, I admittedly felt intimidated. From the way he was talking about it, it seemed like a difficult project, and something that I was not ready to take on. Not to mention the hefty price tag for the individual components required.

I had a schoolmate at the time who was nerdy like me. The guy was always so pleasant to talk to; we would get into this sort of “collaboration” mode, where, for example, in math class we’d discuss how to solve a particular equation, bouncing ideas off of each other until we finally found an answer we could agree on. In my parting letter to him before we graduated from junior high, I had mentioned my “ambitious” plans to him. I told him it was my dream to make a portable GameCube and that, perhaps one day, I would try and fulfill that dream.

Sadly, since we had went our separate ways going to different high schools, I never saw him again. Nor did I ever fulfill my dream.

Naturally, as technology evolved, however, and components became increasingly powerful in a smaller form factor, and with excellent emulation software like Dolphin, I didn’t give up on my fantasy. Other ideas started to take place.

The Homemade Steamboy

Fast forward a little over a decade later, and I mashed a couple of off-the-shelf, second-hand products together into a crumpy, yet functional, x86-based handheld, without any soldering required.

I’m kind of embarrassed to show you photos of the device I made; the screen bezel is broken up in some places, wires are all over the place, the casing for the SBC was cut up and superglued together via PVC board (since I don’t own a 3D printer), the battery is duct-taped to the casing, and for controllers, I hacked on a chop-sawed pair of Joycons that are superglued to the casing. The SBC is a Lattepanda Alpha, which sports an Intel Core m3-8100y and 8 GB of LPDDR3 RAM. I bought a battery that was meant for a different laptop, but had a molex connection, which the Lattepanda had. There are no speakers; I either had to use wired headphones via the 3.5mm headphone jack, or connect a pair of external speakers via Bluetooth.

The specs are a bit of a joke; it’s only dual-core with a boost clock speed of 2.6 GHz. The battery only lasted me anywhere from an hour-and-a-half to two hours. For software, I installed Pop!_OS with the addition of the SteamOS compositor, since, according to the article that I wrote on Boiling Steam, I left a vague note saying that the ChimeraOS – then called GamerOS – installer “didn’t work”. While on paper it actually worked, I had a plethora of issues, from needing an external keyboard to handle any games that needed it, to having to charge the Joycons separately via the Switch itself, to controller input difficulties, to a lack of gyro support, to a lack of speakers, and everything in-between.

In a way, while it was a mess, I was proud of my work. I could successfully say, “I built a portable Steam machine.” Though it wasn’t going to offer the native gaming experience that a portable GameCube would have, at the very least I could emulate some of my favorite games of all time. And with projects like the Zelda: Twilight Princess decompilation being nearly 100% complete, it probably won’t be long before we’ll see native PC gaming experiences with GameCube titles. I could even play Portal 2, GRID Autosport, and some smaller indie hits on it.

That was back in 2021. I look at the $520 price tag that came with it, and…wow. That’s over $100 more than the 256 GB Steam Deck LCD, and it’s far weaker in terms of performance.

The Steam Deck Wasn’t the First

Aside from my own project, there were other companies out there that made PC gaming handhelds, before the Steam Deck was even announced. The failed Smach Z, for example, had a Kickstarter dated way back to December of 2015 – which, ironically, was just one month after the official release of the Steam Machines. There were also devices like the GPD Win series and the dozens of Aya Neo handhelds.

While the form factor was there, the big caveat that came with these is that they were powered by Windows. I find it a bit funny that, to this day, Microsoft hasn’t done much in terms of providing a controller-friendly interface. Manufacturers like Lenovo and ASUS have had to provide their own software, such as Armory Crate, on top of an already bloated OS, in order to have the UX slightly more bearable when using a pair of thumbsticks.

Aside from the software experience, these handhelds carried a hefty price tag. The GPD Win 3 that I had reviewed back when I was writing for Boiling Steam was $900 – and that was second-hand! Oh, and good luck if you were expecting your device to get shipped back to you if you had a problem with it.

The Scam That Was the Smach Z

The design of the controller takes a lot of hints from the original Steam controller, with the dual trackpads – this would have been a nice addition for the games that would benefit from such a thing, such as RTS games. If that wasn’t enough, they had the “Z-Pads”, in which you could place a pad over the trackpad that would add the functionality of a D-pad or an extra analog stick.

Oh, wait. The similarity with the Steam controller is because the Smach Z (apparently pronounced “Smash Z” and not “Smack Z”), is exactly that – a cut-in-half Steam controller with a circuit board ripped out of a tablet, stuffed inside a 3D-printed case, according to a documentary. At least, that’s what the earlier prototypes were based on.

According to their Kickstarter (cough their second one cough), potential buyers could have the option of having their device shipped with Smach Z OS – a tailor-made Linux-based distribution that would create “a better interface and experience” over Windows, with “better performance”. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t mention much of anything beyond that, like what distribution it would be based on, what desktop environment was going to be used if it shipped with one, etc.

Two Kickstarters and an IndieGoGo campaign later, along with funding by the government, and many pushed back release dates, backers never received it. Some didn’t even get their money back. I seriously feel bad for anyone who backed the project up. It’s just yet another reminder to be extremely cautious of deciding whether or not to throw your funds into a crowd-funded campaign.

The Steam Deck - The Definitive PC/Console Gaming Hybrid

May of 2021 comes around. Gaben is at a college in New Zealand. During his time there, he gets asked: “Will Steam be porting any games on consoles, or will it just stay on PC?” As one might expect, Gabe’s response came off as vague: “You will get a better idea of that by the end of this year…and it won’t be the answer you expect. You’ll say, ‘Ah-ha! Now I get what he was talking about.”

Naturally, with the Internet being the way that it is, speculation had been brewing. What exactly was Gabe talking about? Was Valve actually working on a game console? And if so, was it going to be a standalone desktop PC, or a portable handheld?

A few weeks later, SteamDB founder Pavel Djundik discovered something interesting in the beta Steam client:

Valve’s “Neptune” controller shows up in latest Steam client beta again. It’s named “SteamPal” (NeptuneName) and it has a “SteamPal Games” (GameList_View_NeptuneGames)

Ars Technica would later report on this, stating that Valve “has been secretly building a Switch-like portable PC designed to run a large number of games on the Steam PC platform via Linux—and it could launch, supply chain willing, by year’s end.”

Multiple sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that the hardware has been in development for some time, and this week, Valve itself pointed to the device by slipping new hardware-related code into the latest version of Steam.

A few months later and, sure enough, the king of PC gaming officially announces the formerly-named “SteamPal”, the Steam Deck, with pre-orders opening up on the Steam store the following day on July 16, 2021.

Unfortunately the device had shipped at a particularly troublesome time during the pandemic and chip shortages were rampant. Still, thankfully Valve had thought about this ahead of time, and had some prerequisites for those who were interested in buying – such as needing a Steam account that was already created ahead of time and that had a few hours’ worth of gameplay time – unlike Microsoft and Sony at the time with the release of their ninth-gen consoles. This would help curb against them greedy scalpers.

Making Linux Gaming Less Painful

Valve had certainly learned a few key lessons from their Steam Machine initiative a decade ago. Native Linux gaming – to this day – is so niche, but the company thankfully didn’t give up, and collaborated with companies like CodeWeavers to tailor-make Wine, an already-existing software project, into something more optimized for gaming. That would give birth to Proton, which, at the time it was first announced in August of 2018, was branded as “a new version of Steam Play”. In case you weren’t aware, Steam Play at the time meant that, if you purchased a game on Steam, you could play the Linux, Mac, and Windows versions of that game, if those versions were available on those platforms, without having to buy the game again on a different OS.

Proton would allow “ways to make more titles easily accessible to Linux users” while also increasing performance in multi-threaded games and improving controller support. Integrating this into the Steam client would “provide the same simple plug-and-play experience offered by regular Linux games.”

Even though that was announced over seven years ago, to this day I am amazed and grateful for such an excellent compatibility tool. For us Linux gamers, we essentially entered into this “golden age” of Linux gaming. No longer are we locked to just a small handful of titles; the amount of games we can now play has significantly grown; enough to the point where many of us – myself included – no longer have to dual-boot Windows just to play the games that we want to play.

It was a huge boon for developers too. After the Steam Deck was announced, the infamous quote on the Steam Deck developers page says, to this day, “No porting required.” Game developers could export their game, like they usually do, to Windows platforms, and let Proton do all the heavy lifting for them when it comes to Linux/Steam Deck. Games with anti-cheat software are a different beast, but for the most part, devs would have to do little to nothing to optimize their game to work. They could thus focus more so on the game itself and not as much on trying to provide multi-platform support.

As if Proton wasn’t enough, Valve finally counted to three: they updated the super-outdated SteamOS 2.0 Linux distribution, swapped out Debian with Arch, replaced GNOME with KDE Plasma (likely to make the transition of Windows users less of a hurdle), made the underlying system immutable, updated the software, and replaced the buggy old Big Picture mode with something more functional and modern. The Steam Deck would come pre-installed with such an operating system. As a result, the Steam Deck truly felt like a portable gaming console, the way it was meant to be played, all while maintaining the benefits of having the PC architecture, such as mod support, and a desktop interface in case you needed to do anything there. This would attract Windows gamers and even console gamers alike, and a plethora of content creators, specifically for the purpose of Steam Deck-related news, would crop up.

Just remember, though: ChimeraOS did it first.

No Such Thing as “Competition”

A huge advantage that the Deck had over the so-called “competition”, was the price entry point. With the 64 GB SKU only being $400, that was easily half the price of other handhelds. Gabe was quoted as saying the price was “painful” but “critical”. If that $400 price tag was still too high for you, if you were lucky enough to get your hands on a refurbished unit, you could’ve nabbed a 64 GB SKU for $280. $280! Not enough storage? Just get a MicroSD card. Or upgrade the internal SSD at a price less than that of the 256 GB and 512 GB SKUs.

Another advantage that the Deck has – to this day – is the vast amount of controller configurations. Not only do you have four back buttons; you also have dual trackpads, and touch-sensitive thumbsticks. Though the hardware might be a bit outdated compared to some of the more modern options, such as the ROG Ally and the Legion Go series, I haven’t seen as much when it comes to the plethora of input options that the Deck has. The touch-sensitive thumbsticks makes it much easier to move the camera around in a game, for example, without having to touch anything else. The trackpads make it more manageable for games that need a mouse. The back buttons provide easy-to-access presses when doing specific tasks, that you would otherwise have to move your thumb away from the thumbstick. Valve also provided the free Aperature Desk Job – a Portal series spin-off in which you could get an idea as far as how these controls could work.

Let’s not forget the support, too. Every Steam Deck purchase from Steam – including refurbished units – comes with a one-year limited warranty. The RMA process is fairly simple; Valve would provide you a return label, you’d ship it out, and more often than not you’d get the device a week or two later fixed, free of charge.

Want to take your Deck apart? No problem! Valve even provides their own video going over the process of upgrading your hard drive or thumbsticks. Honestly, this is such a refreshing contrast compared to the dirtbags at Nintendo. No tri-wing screws here. Just take off the eight Philips screws on the back to take the back plate off. No need to worry about voiding your warranty, or having the secret police sent to your door for some kind of DMCA violation for taking off a piece of plastic. Want to use something other than SteamOS as the operating system? Go right ahead! Want to buy a game from somewhere outside of Steam? Go nuts!

So, you combine the following:

the affordable price point
the ridiculous amount of input customization
the excellent software experience
the right-to-repair stance

To me, the Steam Deck just frankly does not have any sort of competition with other PC handhelds trying to occupy the same space. The majority of other handhelds are extremely pricey, don’t offer the same level of support, lack the controller features, and slap Microslop’s Windows OS on top of them. Sure, you could take something like ChimeraOS in an attempt to solidify the PC gaming experience that SteamOS provides, but this is not officially supported by the manufacturer of that device, and more often than not, you’ll run into some minor issues. The closest thing we have right now is Lenovo’s partnership with Valve, providing a pre-installed SteamOS image on the Legion Go S (and eventually the Legion Go 2). This is one step closer in the right direction, and I certainly hope other manufacturers will catch on and provide something other than that God-awful Windows experience. Even so, with the absurd $1350 price tag of the Legion Go 2 currently, these newer handhelds have a long way to go in terms of making them more affordable to the end-consumer.

A Look Back at the LCD Model

Well, it’s been about two-and-a-half years since my Steam Deck LCD showed up at my door. It would have showed up sooner, had I not been at a job site with crappy cell phone reception at the exact time the pre-orders went live.

There’s 29 pages’ worth of posts here on my site with the “steam deck” tag. Most of them are news-related articles, such as new Steam Deck client updates or SteamOS updates, or opinions like telling users why they should never install Windows on it, or whether or not the verification process could use some improvement. I’m not going to manually sift through the 29 pages, but certainly, my Steam Deck has been through the ringer, from my controversial review, to overclocking it, to undervolting it, to converting the file system to BTRFS, to broken MicroSD cards from taking out the back plate without taking out the card first (like many of you), to making a clickier version of the buttons, to upgrading the screen, to (my favorite) making it look like a portable GameCube, to…well, I think you kinda get the idea.

Though a lot of them are now outdated, I’ve written many guides for it too. One example is how to overclock the GameCube controller adapter. This was at a point in time where documentation for this was scarce. There were instructions on attempting to do so on the gcadapter_oc_kmod GitHub, but at the time, the instructions were outdated. It didn’t help that hannesmann, the creator of the overclocking script, didn’t own a Steam Deck, so they couldn’t test it. After digging through several old threads on r/SSBM and r/SteamDeck, however, I managed to stitch them together to create the guide that I did. hannesmann also helped me future-proof the guide so that, as opposed to installing the Linux headers for specific kernel versions, the script now autodetects the current kernel version in SteamOS. They also helped me getting the overclock module to persist across reboots.

I’ve reviewed quite a few accessories for the device. The ones in particular that I thought were worth it include:

the DeckHD screen
the transparent purple front and back shell from JSAUX
the JSAUX ModCase (essentially, a more affordable version of Dbrand’s Project Killswitch)

I’ll be honest: the stock screen on the LCD is more or less garbage. At least, when you compare it to just about any other handheld out there. The colors just aren’t that great and whitewashed. Combine that with the odd 16:10 aspect ratio, that’s probably one of the reasons why Valve was able to ‘painfully’ keep the Deck’s price to the way it was. But hey, I guess that extra 80 pixels of vertical space paid off in the end, because you can use level 2 of the MangoHUD performance overlay and see the numbers in the empty space above the game screen, without them overlapping the oh-so-important action that’s going on.

The DeckHD solves the color crisis. The colors are much more vibrant. The increase in resolution from 1280 x 800 to 1920 x 1200 is a bit overkill though. The Deck struggles enough as it is with some of the more hard-hitting AAA titles out there at 800p, and even if you attempt to overclock the APU, you’re only going to be able to squeeze another 2-3 FPS, depending on how much you can overclock it without the Deck shutting itself off.

The clicky button kit wasn’t worth it. Soon after installing it, I noticed I couldn’t get the daughterboard to recognize that I was pressing the A button when playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. I also noticed that, if I press the D-pad down hard enough, multiple directions will be pressed. For example, if I hold Down, eventually Left and Right will also be pressed. I had to take the Deck back apart and re-seat the rubber membranes so I could at least get the A button to register again.

Sure, you could “upgrade” the sticks by using an electromagnetic-based solution, but I’ve never heard anyone complain about stick drift with the stock thumbsticks. If anything, I’m still noticing a bit of drift when I try calibrating the GuliKit sticks in SteamOS. I know it’s not necessarily a hardware problem; it’s more so with the frustrating, constant re-seating of the ribbon cables that’s causing this erratic behavior. I should have just kept the stock thumbsticks. I guess the GuliKit sticks will provide future-proof of longer-lasting endurance though, should I ever see anyone get stick drift.

Do I Still Use It?

You would think that, with Steam Deck-related posts taking up more than a third of LGC’s entire catalog of articles, and the amount of time that I’ve opened it up, doing hardware mods, reviewing games with it, and writing guides for it, that I would cherish such a device. While I’m not necessarily saying that’s a false sentiment, I gotta be honest here: I don’t use the Steam Deck that much. Outside of the articles that I write for it, outside of the games that I review with it, I rarely use it. Even when I take the Deck with me wherever I go, I just don’t find much incentive to use it to pass the time, since I already got my phone with me and that’s distracting enough. When I do my gaming, I usually do it on the HP Dev One laptop, that I still use to this day.

That being said, overhauling my Deck to give it more like a GameCube-style appearance is the closest thing I have gotten to fulfilling my dream of making a GameCube portable. If I were to go back to being my twelve-year-old self, I would have been absolutely ecstatic seeing Super Smash Bros. Melee running in a portable form factor. Add 20 years to that age and now I just say, “meh”. It’s there; just not as exciting as I thought it would be. Though it was an expensive and time-consuming process, I’ll admit I was pretty satisfied at seeing the end result. Sadly, some of the stickers on the buttons have peeled off over time. I should have just replaced the buttons entirely.

One thing I have recently been doing, however, is reading visual novels on the Deck. Crank the APU down to four watts, dial the GPU clock speed to its lowest at 200 MHz, drop the framerate to 15 FPS, and I’ve got myself a battery sipper that will last me many hours. I would read visual novels even more if my treadmill at home was working; I’d read while walking. Do a passive, recreational hobby while not feeling the guilty pleasure of not getting anything productive done. But visual novels are still good for when I’m going to bed – I can just read, read, and read until I finally get tired enough to go to sleep.

Goodbye, Steam Deck LCD

I’m sure you’ve noticed this by now – when going to the Steam store page for the Steam Deck, the button to buy the LCD version is greyed out, with the text “Out of stock”. Under that says:

Note: We are no longer producing the Steam Deck LCD 256GB model. Once sold out, it will no longer be available.

If you’re fast enough, you might be able to buy a refurbished unit once supply comes in. But that’s something where you have to be right then and there, by your computer, because in just 10 minutes, the buttons to buy them will no longer be green; they’ll likewise be greyed-out. People will buy them immediately. Your only solution at that point would be to buy one second-hand. GameStop did, for a time, sell refurbished consoles, but now, upon going to their website, you’ll simply be met with a “Sorry we could not find the page you were looking for”. You can technically find them on Amazon too, but you’re going to be paying a lot more than what you’d pay on Steam’s website.

So, the inspiration for this post is more or less because of that – because the Steam Deck LCD has served its purpose, and Valve has moved on.

Hello, Steam Deck OLED

The OLED is definitely a vast improvement over its predecessor. I can certainly attest to that with my hands-on review of the charcoal-colored Limited Edition model. The colors of the screen are much better, the bump from 60 Hz to 90 Hz provides a smoother gaming experience, more screen real estate is used while retaining the same overall size, the trackpads and analog sticks feel much better to use, it is slightly lighter while having a larger-capacity battery, the improved motherboard layout decreases the risk of electromagnetic interference between the hard drive and the Wi-Fi chip, the memory clock speed is slightly faster…and that’s not the full list of improvements.

I miss my OLED – I had sold it some time ago. It was beautiful in appearance, from the design of the case, to the translucent layer of the shell, to the orange-colored screws. That sucker didn’t need any hardware mods at all; I liked it just the way it was. Valve had described the OLED as being the “definitive first-generation” model.

The End of Affordable PC Handheld Gaming?

I am a bit saddened that Valve is no longer producing the LCD model. Though the OLED certainly has a plethora of advantages, the LCD version is just as powerful. And nearly all of the advantages of the OLED can be negated if you’re docking the Deck, because, when you’re playing on the big screen, you’re not paying attention to the improved ergonomics, or the improved battery, or the improved colors. And the LCD is still getting software/firmware updates. All at a price that was $150 less expensive than the 512 GB OLED model.

Some have speculated that, due to the rising costs of such components as RAM and NAND storage, this is why Valve isn’t making these anymore. And while that is a valid theory, I don’t necessarily agree with it. It just seems a bit too coincidental that the LCD is OoS just weeks after the announcement of the Steam Machine. As such, Gardiner Bryant proposed a different hypothesis that seems more plausible, explaining that discontinuing the LCD model is a “strategic move” in favor of not making such a daunting gap between the price of it and the price of the newly announced Steam Machine:

With the discontinuation of the LCD and the introduction of the Machine and Frame, the OLED will suddenly occupy the “Pricing Anchor” slot for Valve’s first-party lineup of gaming hardware. Let’s say that the entry level Steam Machine is $649. Like it or not (and despite them being different SKUs) gamers won’t help but to compare $399 to $649. They will then say “no way, Jose.”

Basically, what he’s saying is, once the price of the Steam Machine finally gets announced, potential buyers are going to immediately compare prices. If you line up the $399 price tag of the Steam Deck LCD with the theoretical $649 price tag of the Steam Machine, that’s a pretty big difference. Gamers are going to be turned off with the $649 tag, and the LCD will look much more appealing, just based on the price alone.

However, now that the LCD is discontinued, you’re going to have the pricier $549 Steam Deck OLED placed alongside the $649 Steam Machine when you’re on the hardware page. Now there’s not so much of a price difference anymore; that $649 Steam Machine suddenly seems more appealing to buy, simply because the price gap isn’t as large.

See how marketing like this can play such a big role psychologically to your head?

Wrap-Up

A lot of folks, from the nobodies, to content creators, and even celebreties alike, it seems the Steam Deck has transformed a lot of people’s lives, for the better. To an extent, I agree – at least, for the few times that I use it. I love the portable form factor, I love how it holds in my hands, I love how I can read with it until I sleep. The software experience, while it was hit-or-miss when the Deck first launched in February 2022, has improved significantly since then, and it’s only getting better as the months and years go by. Proton and SteamOS certainly has in no small part made gaming outside of Windows that much better for everyone, myself included.

I also appreciate Valve’s open-ness when it comes to modding, be it directly through the software itself, such as Decky Loader, or upgrading the hardware. Really, I could easily make this already-lengthy post double its size, were I to briefly touch on what people have done to it, such as improving the APU’s temperature or doubling the amount of RAM.

Though I’ve been critical of Valve in times past, I do want to thank them for their overall contributions to the Linux kernel, to Wine, to Arch, and everything else they’ve done to make Linux gaming what it is today. Were it not for their efforts and persistence, I would probably be dual-booting with Windows right now as far as playing the games that I enjoy.

I suppose the legacy of the Steam Deck will live on with the OLED edition. Do you still have the LCD model though? Or have you had it in the past? Let me know your thoughts and your memories with it!

My Top Games of 2025

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:14:01 -0500

Well, truth be told, I haven’t played that many games that released in 2025. After filtering my Steam library through SteamDB, it appears I’ve only bought eight games that released last year – one of which was a freebie, another was some random Humble Steam key from a bundle I bought, a third that I barely even touched.

I often wait for a game to go on a substantial discount before I splurge. That being said, even though this list might not be as packed as the years of 2023 or 2022, it’s still a list nonetheless.

3. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

Thankfully, unlike it’s predecessor, THPS 3+4 released simultaneously on Steam with its EGS counterpart, and it doesn’t have the always-online requirement like THPS 1+2 has with the EGS version. There’s honestly not much to say here; it’s just the same HD re-skin that was applied to THPS 1+2, without any new content. Seems like some folks though have lamented that the remake has sort of destroyed the semi-open world nature that the original THPS 4 version had, without the two-minute run.

Additionally, for those of you that dislike AI, well…

Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets.

In-game assets like what, though? Naturally, the Steam store page doesn’t comment any further on this.

Still, I miss the old THPS games, and I’m glad to see the big corpos at Activision not leave 3 and 4 behind.

2. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

This is one of those releases where it’s like, “Why support the greedy a-holes at the Big N when you can just get the same thing on a different platform, with different characters and cross-platform multiplayer?”

Although, I’m not going to lie – Sega has kind of milked its Sonic racing formula a few times over the past decade-and-a-half too. This is the fourth entry in the series. It’s also not the first attempt at trying to tie-in third-party characters. That being said, CrossWorlds is a worthy contender this time. It’s a bit difficult to describe the driving mechanics. But it just feels and plays like a solid kart racer. Plus, the return of the hover boards from the Sonic Riders series, as well as customization of your vehicles – from the individual parts that affect various racing attributes, to their colors – gives you incentive to continue to play the game after putting in a few hours. I love that they added Hatsune Miku as a free update – she’s my favorite go-to character.

A caveat, however, is there’s no proper story mode here. The closest thing you’ll get here is a “rival” for you to fight against for first place for each Grand Prix. And, seeing as this game is backed by the head honchos over at Sega, naturally the game is DRM-ridden with Denuvo. So no playing this with Kazeta, unfortunately.

1. Lego Party!

I brought this game to a friend’s house a few nights ago. I should have recorded the moment where one of my friends was crying from laughing so hard. The reason for the laugh? My other poor friend was getting robbed of his studs by a bunch of monkeys attacking him.

This game is hilarious. The in-game commentary is pretty funny too, although at times it can be a bit cringe-y (“Are we gonna have to kiss the contestents to bring these frogs back to their Lego form?”). The voice acting is pretty decent for what it’s worth, from the item-seller lady in a hot dog costume that sounds like Baby Prunes from SpongeBob, to the James Bond-esque agent that steals studs or golden bricks from your rivals. It’s half the price of Super Mario Party Jamboree - Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV (I’m already getting a headache just trying to type the whole name for that out). And why settle on a franchise that’s constantly getting milked every year with some slightly different variations, when you can just get an alternative that’s available natively on PC, with crossplay, with free updates, without paid DLC?

Like CrossWorlds, though, there’s no story mode. That would have been a nice touch that some of the older Mario Party games had.

Other Noteworthy Contenders

Metroid Prime 4 finally came out, only after 18 years since the release of Prime 3. I’m going to hold back my opinion on this game for now, as I may come back to it later with a dedicated review.

A Note Regarding the Commenting System

Just thought I’d provide a quick update on the commenting system that LGC currently uses. It uses Cactus Comments. Unfortunately there are some issues going on with it right now; hence why no one can currently leave a comment on any of my posts. I am silently praying that the maintainer of the project eventually gets the backend working again, because there have been many precious comments of yours that I want to keep. Until then, I am looking into alternative commenting solutions.

winesapOS 4.5.0 Adds Ventoy Resize Support, Improved Power Management

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 18:46:05 +0000

Luke Short Cloud, the VP of Linux engineering at Playtron, somehow found the time to work on a nice update to winesapOS – a portable, Arch-based Linux distro in which the user doesn’t have to install the OS on their hard drive. Released a few days ago, here are some of the 4.5.0 update highlights:

Ventoy resize support
the ability to install additional desktop environments – such as Pop!_OS’ new COSMIC DE, or GNOME – in addition to the distro’s default KDE Plasma
TLP for automatic power management – the release notes describes this change as a “huge performance increase” over AutoTDP
improved gyro support for gamepads
non-Steam games can now be streamed with Steam Remote Play via RemotePlayWhatever
support for “various emulators” via RetroDECK

It’s been great seeing this distro steadily become better over time. Luke and the rest of his team have been hard at work addressing the issues posted on the project’s GitHub – fixing over 1,000! Now only five are left.

See the full patch notes on GitHub. Downloads can be found on Luke’s server. And be sure to check out the interview I had with Luke for more details on winesapOS!

Improving the Kazeta Experience

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 15:10:16 +0000

A number of months ago, I had taken a look at Kazeta, an operating system that’s designed to play the user’s self-created “cartridges” by means of external media – be it an SD card or USB drive. It’s a brilliant concept on paper, and is one of the many attempts out there in recent years to help preserve – and, might I also add, revive – the physical era of gaming. What I particularly enjoy about the concept of Kazeta, however, is that you, as the end user, create your own physical media, with things you probably have lying around, including SD cards, MicroSD cards, USB flash drives, etc. This is a much less expensive endeavor, as opposed to shopping on eBay and looking for a $300 proprietary game cartridge that is no longer being produced. You take games you already own – such as those on Steam, GOG, and Epic Games – and create them into your own cartridge. And if you do happen to have some retro game cartridges lying around, you can of course dump them and put them on a Kazeta-based cartridge.

From a philosophical viewpoint, creating physical media for your games (and music) also helps preserve them for years to come. There’s no telling when a publisher decides to stop supporting a certain game, or the license for the game expires and eventually gets de-listed from a digital store front (such as Forza Horizon 4). Your physical cartridges are your “guarantee” that you will have that game for as long as you own that cartridge. Kazeta provides a solid foundation for this.

As I had explained in my review, however, Kazeta only provides said foundation and nothing else. There’s a lot of work that the end user has to do on their part when it comes to creating their own cartridges. It doesn’t help that, if the cartridge fails to load on the system, the system will just shut off automatically. They have to restart the console without the cartridge inserted, connect a keyboard, log into an ugly text-based terminal, and copy the session logs over to their removable media. Not to mention that certain Linux-based games have the D-pad direction reversed, without an easy way to fix it.

I sought out a way to resolve these issues. Not only that, but to improve the overall experience of Kazeta. Thanks to Alkazar making the project open-source, I forked the repository and made it into my own: Kazeta+.

Over the last several months, I have progressively been adding new features, bug fixes, and quality-of-life improvements. I had been digging through some of the issues on the vanilla Kazeta issue tracker – as well as some of the help threads on the Kazeta Discord – and addressing some of the points/features discussed there. It would just be way too long of a post if I went over every single detail. I’ll just jot down some of the more major features/improvements:

multi-cart support: the user can now make better use of the available space on their physical media by allowing multiple games to be stored on it as opposed to just one. If Kazeta+ detects multiple .kzi files on the media, a menu will be presented with the list of games to play when the user selects “PLAY” in the BIOS. On the other hand, if the user just wants the plug n’ play nature of the original Kazeta console, they can set one of their .kzi files to have the SetAsDefaultGame=true line. This will make that game the default that plays whenever the console is turned on with the cartridge inserted.
optical media support: in addition to SD cards and USB drives, the user can also burn their games onto a blank CD or DVD, connect said disc to their console, and boot it like they would on any other media. If they have a music CD, they can also play their tunes right through the BIOS, just like in the PS1 days.
theme support: I think it’s just the “gamer” nature in us to want to skin the user interface and make it more akin to our liking. With Kazeta+, that’s now possible. You can create your own, or download one of the existing themes right through the BIOS, then switch to any one of them through the BIOS settings. Some examples of themes include:
- consoles: PS1/PS2/GameCube/Wii/Dreamcast
- game-specific: Star Fox 64/various Sonic games/Metroid Prime/F-Zero/Zelda series/Smash Bros./Dudelings/Soul Calibur II/Guilty Gear: -Strive-
Each theme comes with its’ own sound effects, background music, background, and font. You can even use a .mp4 video file for the background!
Bluetooth support: whether that be a wireless controller, or a pair of headphones, Kazeta+ has you covered.
game compression support: the user can now compress their games as an Enhanced Read-Only File System (EROFS) .kzp image. Depending on the game, this can save generally between 10-15% of space. I’ve seen some instances where it’s even more: Boomerang Fu becomes 141 MB as a compressed image, as opposed to 665 MB uncompressed! Compression also simplifies the way the user transfers their games; they now only have to transfer one file as opposed to a game folder with a .kzi file.
improved troubleshooting: if a cart fails to boot, there’s an error screen that pops up. It reads off the last 30 lines of the session log.
fixes: the user can now fix the D-pad reversal bug by appending a few lines to their .kzi file. Some games/applications that previously had strange characters for the font are now fixed by installing a few Arch packages related to fonts. Finally, some games that can’t run at all on Kazeta can now run with updated runtime files I’ve made. For example, the Windows 1.2 runtime allows Link’s Awakening DX HD to run on Kazeta/Kazeta+ by adding the .NET 6.0.36 desktop runtime. Other games, like Sonic Adventure 2, can also run with this runtime by changing PROTONVERB to waitforexitandrun.

Making Cartridges Easier to Make

As I was working on Kazeta+, I had wanted to make it easier for the end-user to create the .kzi file needed for their games to work on their cartridges. For those who aren’t in the know, .kzi files are Kazeta information files. They’re essentially a text-based file that have a similar format to .desktop files, that define the launch behavior for a particular game. An example of a .kzi file might look like this:

Name=Sonic Adventure 2
Id=sonic-adventure-2
Exec=sa2/Launcher.exe
Icon=sa2/icon.png
GamescopeOptions=--mangoapp
Runtime=windows-1.2

It’s all fine and dandy if you want to manually edit these files yourself with a text editor. But I thought it would be a little more user-friendly if there was a GUI you could use to do the same thing. As such, I made KZI Cartridge Generator. This is an app you can use on your desktop PC to create cartridges for either Kazeta or Kazeta+. However, some features are only available with Kazeta+, such as applying the D-pad reversal fix.

A neat thing with KZI Cartridge Generator is you can test a native Linux game, or a Windows game, on your desktop PC, to make sure it works before playing the game on your Kazeta system. When testing a Windows game, by default your distro’s Wine package is used. But you can also use GE-Proton or whatever other compatibility layer you want! You can download runtime files – be it the official Kazeta runtimes, or Kazeta+ runtimes – directly to your removable media. Based on the testing so far from some individuals on the Kazeta Discord, it seems the Kazeta+ runtimes are backward-compatible with vanilla Kazeta. Users can also fetch icons for their games via SteamGridDB – I’ve found this to be a lot faster and convenient as opposed to finding an icon yourself and resizing it to 32x32 or 64x64 px.

As time went on, and more features were getting added to Kazeta+, I expanded the support of KZI Cartridge Generator to handle multiple functions. In addition to making .kzi files, the application can now also allow the user to create their own runtime files, compress their games, burn CDs and DVDs, and create themes for the Kazeta+ BIOS. KZI Cartridge Generator has thus evolved into the ultimate Swiss-army knife for all things Kazeta and Kazeta+, all neatly wrapped into one package.

In the event users want to manually do all the work themselves, I’ve also documented everything in the Kazeta+ Wiki, from compressing your games, making your own runtime files, making your own themes, or creating your own optical media.

The Development Process

Don’t give me too much credit here. I’ve kitty-scripted with Bash and Python, but nothing along the likes of Rust (that’s the programming language used by the Kazeta BIOS). For this, I used AI for the programming. In this particular case, I went with Google Gemini. Gemini did 95% of the coding for me; it added all the Bluetooth features, the framework for theme support, the logic for handling multi-carts, you name it. For the most part, it was just a copy-pasta process, copying the code Gemini generated for me, putting it into the appropriate Rust module, and just pasting any runtime errors to the AI in the event the BIOS didn’t compile. The remaining 5% was me double-checking the code for any errors or typos, simplifying the import module code, adding comments, and testing the code Gemini sent me. I likewise did the same with KZI Cartridge Generator. I’m actually quite amazed that it was able to do all of that.

Even the splash screen video that starts when the console is turned on – I was able to make it with Google’s Veo, built right into Gemini. All I had to do was give it the Kazeta+ logo as the baseline, and told it, “Make a Dreamcast-esque intro sequence with this.” And it made it!

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Aside from the odd, abrupt change that the logo does when it’s spinning around and going in reverse, I’d say this is pretty solid.

That being said, there were definitely some infuriating moments working with the AI. Obviously, you can’t trust it word-for-word. Gemini might say to you, “Replace your existing logic with this:” and output some random code that it’s pulled out of its arse. Sometimes, it has no idea what it’s talking about if you aren’t specific enough with it, and if you try to run the code as-is, without commenting out your old block of code as a backup, you’re probably going to break your entire project. In some instances the AI will also stubbornly insist “This is the solution!” when clearly it is not. Doing a rm Cargo.lock followed by re-building the project with cargo build is not going to fix a dependency issue. You’re forced to create a new thread with the AI so it doesn’t go off the rails.

So, you have to be very careful about what kind of code you’re putting in, and herein lies the human “touch” needed to ensure nothing breaks. Despite the concern that AI is taking over programmers’ jobs, there still needs to be at least one human being there, overseeing the code, to make sure nothing goes haywire.

I Need More Testers

I’ve had a few users on the Kazeta Discord test Kazeta+ for me. But I’d like to add a few more to the list. If you, the reader, are willing, you can head over to the installation Wiki page to get started. At some point I’d like to make an ISO for Kazeta+, but for now, you’ll have to upgrade your existing Kazeta install.

I’ve opened the issue tracker, so please let me know of any errors you come across, or new features you’d like. I’d also love to hear your experience in general with Kazeta+!

Acknowledgements

First of all, credit of course is due to Alkazar for laying the groundwork for the Kazeta project. I would not have been able to expound on his ideas had he not made Kazeta in the first place. I also need to give him credit for being the original person to add compressed .kzp file support, for which I had expanded on in Kazeta+.

Shoutout to my testers, who have patiently stuck through the issues that they came across and reporting them to me:

Calyder
SynnBunn
Ashthorne Gaming
lewattoo

Credit also goes to:

CatsGoMoo: for providing the original implementation for CD/DVD support
Loratadine Niacin: for providing runtimes for PC Engine, PlayStation 1, Sega Saturn, and Sega CD
Kuro_Nankin: for helping me figure out how the heck to slap a sticker label onto a CD

Kazeta - Bringing Back The Good Ol' Days of 90s Consoles

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 16:51:35 -0400

As someone who grew up in the 90s, I’m an absolute sucker for that decade. From the birth of nu metal, to Nintendo being bullied for the first time in the console market, to 3D graphics realizing their full potential and transforming the games we played into a far more immersive experience. Where it felt like technology was at the right balance between being useful, but not controlling our lives, since we didn’t have the distractions of our smartphones or social media.

What I would consider to be the true “golden age” of video game history was the sixth generation – as I had described in my GameCube-lookalike Steam Deck post. But the generation that had preceded it – the Nintendo 64, the PS1, and Sega’s various failed hardware projects – was where the fierce competition had taken its roots. Not just with Sega, but newcomers like Sony who were entering into the picture and were already proving to become the next big hit.

I remember being at my sister’s house, huddled up with my nephews in the basement, in the late 90s (maybe early 2000s). There was our entertainment device – the Nintendo 64. Man, does that console bring up some pleasant childhood memories. Pinching Mario’s nose when booting up Super Mario 64, then sitting at the file select screen for ten minutes just to listen to the background music; skating through the warehouse in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater; the meme “do a barrel roll!” becoming a thing with Star Fox 64; holding the weird, three-pronged controller that couldn’t let you use the D-pad simultaneously with the analog stick. Taking the cartridge out and blowing on it in the event the game didn’t boot – which, in case you weren’t aware, actually made the problem worse, since the moisture from your mouth could contaminate the pins. Then crying because one day the Golden Retriever decided to chew the AV cables up.

Modern gaming – be it on a PC or even a console – has evolved into something much more than just inserting a disc and playing it. Some consoles don’t even have a disc drive anymore. Now there’s multiple logins that you have to deal with, multiple launchers, complex UI structures that can confuse casual gamers, distractions like social media feeds…you know what I’m talking about. Sometimes I wish we could just re-live the simplicity of those days.

Oh, wait. It looks like my dream has been answered. That is, Kazeta.

Image credit: Alkazar

Czech for “cassette”, Kazeta is a brand new project spearheaded by Alesh Slovak, AKA Alkazar, who’s also the primary meat and potatoes behind ChimeraOS – the spiritual successor to SteamOS 1.0/2.0 that turns your PC into a console-like device. Seeing as Alkazar has over six years’ worth of working on a gaming-focused distribution under his belt, he would definitely make the ideal candidate for making something like this.

Kazeta is a barebones, Arch-based Linux operating system. The concept is simple: you add a game to an external media, be it a SD card or USB flash drive, insert it into the computer, turn the power button on, and begin playing the game. It’s that simple.

Or, at least I wish it was that simple. As I’ll get into this review, while the foundation is there, Kazeta frankly needs some more time in the oven before it’s ready for prime time.

Why It Was Made

I highly recommend giving the interview by PerfectDark a read. This provides us with some insight into the roots of why Alkazar built Kazeta:

In recent years I started playing retro games on original hardware. Over time I started adding more and more consoles and eventually got to playing some modern ones…These were just awful experiences compared to the older consoles. You needed accounts and online connections and you had to install games that took forever. I had just assumed modern consoles were a good experience, but they were barely any better than the PC gaming experience. Sometimes worse.

As such, he asked himself, “Why can’t we have the immediacy and simplicity of the older consoles?” Thus, the idea of creating his vision was starting to form. You’ll also notice some of his other reasons on the r/linux_gaming announcement thread, including ChimeraOS users having difficulty navigating Steam’s navigation system, and wanting to bring back the nostalgia of physical hardware.

Image credit: Alkazar/official Kazeta website

Funnily enough, Alkazar told me that there would only be “dozens” of Kazeta users before he launched his project into the world. But based on the amount of upvotes on the r/linux_gaming thread (over 500 at the time of writing this), the Kazeta Discord exploding overnight with more than 400 members, and media outlets like PCGamer spreading the buzz, it’s pretty clear that I’m not the only one who’s excited for a project like this. If anything, there are at least hundreds, probably even thousands, of users who are sick of the modern, digital age of gaming.

First-Time Setup

You’re going to want a dedicated PC for this, as dual-booting is not supported. Neither are hybrid graphics, so you might have limited success if you’re using a laptop with a dGPU. Mini PCs are the recommended device. Currently, the only officially supported hardware, according to the Kazeta Wiki, is the Geekom A5 2025 Edition Mini PC. Obviously, you’re also going to want a keyboard for first-time setup, as well as a couple of extra SD cards or flash drives that you plan on booting your games from.

Upon heading to the official Kazeta website, there is a download link to a 2.5 GB .ISO image, which you can then flash onto a USB drive. Simply plug the USB flash drive into the computer you’re planning on using Kazeta with and boot from it. If you’ve used the ChimeraOS installer, the blue screen of death background will be familiar here. The installer will detect the internal hard drive and warn that everything on it will be formatted. From here, you can choose to proceed and install the operating system, or exit. Interestingly enough, if you have a gamepad connected, you can navigate the different options with the D-pad or left analog stick, so you might not even need to connect a keyboard.

Installing Kazeta took roughly three or four minutes on a NVMe SSD. Everything is included in the installer, so no Internet connection is required. Once complete, you can choose to restart the computer, or use the command line.

Once Kazeta is installed and rebooted, you’ll be greeted with the Kazeta BIOS (provided that you don’t have a “cartridge” inserted). If you like retro-inspired interfaces, you’re going to like this. From the font, to the sound effects that are played when navigating the different options, to the slowly-changing color of the background, it’s all here. Alkazar mentions in his interview with PerfectDark that the PS1 in particular was the inspiration for the design of the interface:

I have a particular fondness for the PS1 BIOS as that was an influential console that I had back in the day and is the system I think of when I think of a console with a BIOS. I do also really love the fun animations of the Dreamcast BIOS.

From here, you can manage your save data with the individual cartridges that you’ve made, or boot your cartridge once it’s been inserted.

Once you’ve created some carts and have booted from them, the data management screen will populate with save files associated with those games. The icons that show up will be whatever PNG image you stored on it. From here, you can delete your saves, or copy them to an external media.

Setting Up Cartridges

Setting up an external media storage device as a “cartridge” requires a separate computer and a little bit of work. Let’s say you’re setting up a SD card. Alkazar recommends getting a card that’s Class 10 or higher, since anything lower can result in very slow reading and writing times. I bought a 5-pack of 32 GB cards from Amazon. For labels, I bought a pack of removable labels. The labels are useful for when I have multiple SD cards lying around, so I can distinguish which card contains what game. If you want, you can use a custom sticker printing service to get some fancy artwork for your games, but since I’m cheap and impatient, I went with what I got. If I was desperate enough, I can just draw some artwork myself on the labels.

Oh yeah, I actually did that…

Note that, in addition to SD cards (whether they’re full-size or MicroSD), you can also use USB flash drives as your cartridges. In the event anyone was curious about CD/DVD functionality, based on my testing so far, unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work. I had made an ISO of 2ship2harkinian (Majora’s Mask PC port) and burned it to a blank DVD+R. I connected my portable disc drive to my USB-C dock on my Steam Deck, as well as my Intel NUC. The “PLAY” menu item doesn’t light up in the Kazeta BIOS. At least the disc tray has power, since I can open and close the tray with the button on it. Alkazar has mentioned that he wants to add this functionality in a future update, so look forward to that!

You’ll need to format the cartridge as ext4. The reason why this particular file system is used, as opposed to, say, BTRFS, is explained by Alkazar on the Kazeta issue tracker:

BTRFS…is not an ideal filesystem for external media like SD cards and USB flash drives due to the heavy amount of writes.

The goal is to avoid writing any data to the cartridge, to extend the longevity of it:

The cartridge itself is never written to. This is to ensure the game data remains pristine, and to prevent wear on the storage media itself. To capture any changes, such as game save data, a writable overlay filesystem is applied on top of the cartridge. The contents of the overlay/save data are stored on the systems internal storage.

Once you’ve formatted the cart, you can place the game – which has to be DRM-free – onto it. Ideally you would want to put the game executable and related files inside of a “content” folder. The game can be a native Linux executable, a Windows game with the use of the Kazeta Windows runtime file, or even a ROM, provided that you have the emulator supplied with it. You’re also going to want an icon for the game, which will show up in the Kazeta save management screen, saved as a PNG file that’s either 32 x 32 pixels or 64 x 64 pixels. If you need to use a runtime (in the form of a .kzr file), you’ll need to save it onto the root of the cartridge.

Finally, you’re going to need to provide Kazeta a metadata file (.kzi) that tells it how to launch the game when the console is booted up. This text file will provide the name of the game, the game ID, the execution parameters, the icon file path, and what runtime to use. Since Kazeta uses GameScope, you can also optionally specify any GameScope parameters that you want to use. This can be useful if, for example, you want to set a specific resolution for the game, or use a certain scaling algorithm. In most cases though you’re probably not going to need this.

I’ll give you an example of what a cart.kzi file might look like. This is for Dudelings, a native Linux title:

Name=Dudelings
Id=dudelings
Exec=content/dudelings_linux_build.x86_64
Icon=icon.png
Runtime=linux

So, at the end of the day, my “cartridge” would look like this:

And inside the “content” folder would contain the game’s executable file and all of the related files needed to get it to run:

I vibe-coded a graphical interface that should make your life a little easier when it comes to generating the .kzi file, but still, you’re responsible for having the necessary files in place.

So yeah. Not super seamless. And even then, you might not be able to get the cartridge to boot on your Kazeta machine. Which leads me to my next point…

Troublesome Troubleshooting

If you insert a cart into Kazeta, turn the system on, and nothing happens, it’s probably because Kazeta wasn’t able to boot it. A couple of error logs get dumped onto the internal hard drive, but you have no way of being able to view them. So, what you have to do is…

Boot Kazeta without the cart.
Put the cart back in once you see the BIOS.
Attach a keyboard, hit CTRL + ALT + F2 to bring up the command line interface, and login with a username and password of gamer.
Copy the session and game logs onto the cart. So you might type something like cp /var/kazeta/session.log /run/media/<name of your cartridge label>. The folder structure gets even more complex to get the game log, as it’s buried in /var/kazeta/saves/default/<game id>/.kazeta/var/run.log.
Attach the files to the #help channel on the Kazeta Discord or the Kazeta GitHub issue tracker and see if Alkazar can help narrow down what the problem is.

This is very cumbersome. For a distro that’s designed with non-technical gamers in mind, this is the polar opposite. In a future update I definitely want to see this troubleshooting process more streamlined. Kazeta should present a screen with something like “Kazeta was unable to boot the cartridge. Error logs have been stored on it. Press A to shutdown.” Maybe even have a wall of text that reads off the session log. But definitely at least dump the error logs onto the cart, so the user doesn’t have to manually do it themselves with a keyboard.

Testing on Different Hardware

Kazeta actually inspired me to dig through several boxes of unused stuff that I had lying around to find an Intel NUC that I had bought seven years ago. With a single-core Celeron processor and a max clock speed of 2.16 GHz, along with 8 GB of DDR3L RAM clocked at 1,600 MHz, it’s kind of a joke to use this mini PC outside of lightweight web browsing or using an office suite. Still, I was kind of shocked to see that I was able to install Kazeta on it and run Dudelings. It runs like crap, there’s no sound, and there’s awful screen tearing (likely due to GameScope not being compatible with such an old processor). But it works.

Since I don’t have any other dedicated PCs available to test with, I next tried my Steam Deck. One good thing I will say about hardware requirements, is that you really don’t need that big of an internal hard drive, since the only data Kazeta stores on the drive – other than the OS itself – is the save files for your games. As such, I was able to make good use of the OEM 64 GB NVMe SSD Valve shipped to me when I ordered my Steam Deck. I replaced the off-the-shelf 512 GB NVMe drive that I had SteamOS on, and put the OEM drive back in. I plugged in a USB-C dock to the Deck, put a flash drive in it, and was able to install Kazeta without issue, albeit for the screen being in portrait mode during installation. Since Kazeta makes use of GameScope, the screen automatically rotated itself back into landscape mode when Kazeta launched into the BIOS.

I was able to make use of a MicroSD card and put Super Mario 64 (PC port) on it. I put it into the Steam Deck, and low and behold, my childhood game is working perfectly fine on the handheld! I didn’t have to re-configure any of the controls. The volume rocker doesn’t work, but I can faintly hear the in-game sound effects through the Deck’s speakers. Alkazar doesn’t recommend using handhelds though.

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Linux Games – Your Best Bet

I’ve had the best success rate with native Linux games. In some cases I haven’t needed to supply the Linux Kazeta runtime file – like with the Super Mario 64 and Majora’s Mask PC ports. In other instances, like in the case of Dudelings, supplying the runtime file was necessary, otherwise the game wouldn’t boot.

Even then, however, you might find that your controller inputs aren’t to your liking. I’ve noticed in Dudelings that, no matter what controller I use, the D-pad directions are reversed, even though the left analog stick works as intended. Doki Doki Literature Club gave me a performance warning and that it was using software rendering. None of the buttons for the gamepads that I’ve tried will advance the in-game dialogue, but oddly enough, I can use the mouse cursor with the Steam Deck trackpads and click on them to advance the story.

If the game you’re running has a portable controller configuration profile, you might be able to modify it and see if it changes anything. Otherwise, if your gamepad controls don’t work as intended, you’re kind of out of options.

Windows Games – Not Great

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I’ve had very limited success running any Windows games. Alkazar claims Windows games work just fine with Kazeta. I’ve tried the following games:

the Celeste 64 sample cartridge found on the Kazeta Wiki
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!
Dudelings (Windows version)
Boomerang Fu
Garfield+

The only one that works is Celeste 64. The initial launch window with Garfield+, where it asks the user for any graphical settings they’d like to adjust, will show up when booting that cart, but the computer just shuts off after that. The rest of the games simply won’t boot, no matter what I do. And even after sending Alkazar my session logs, the only potential conflict that he found was that there might be an issue with the save data with Dudelings, since I switched back and forth from the Linux and Windows versions. Deleting the save data did nothing.

Emulation – Some Work Needed

Hopefully you’re comfortable using RetroArch with its complex menu structure. Because, if you’re going to want to emulate any ROMs, you’re going to want to head over to the official RetroArch website and download the AppImage. You’re next going to have to run the AppImage on a separate computer and download the cores that you want to use. Then you take the AppImage – along with the RetroArch-Linux-x86_64.AppImage.home folder associated with it – put it on your cartridge, put the ROM somewhere on it, and then supply the necessary parameters in the .kzi file to get RetroArch to run the game with the appropriate core. Here’s an example of what my .kzi file looks like when trying to run Smash Remix – a mod for Super Smash. Bros 64:

Name=Smash Remix (v2.0.0)
Id=smash-remix
Exec=content/RetroArch-Linux-x86_64.AppImage -L content/RetroArch-Linux-x86_64.AppImage.home/.config/retroarch/cores/mupen64plus_next_libretro.so content/smashremix2.0.0.z64
Icon=icon.png

The Exec parameter tells Kazeta to run the RetroArch AppImage, load the Mupen64 Plus core, and then load the ROM. No runtime file is necessary.

This will immediately load up Smash Remix once the cartridge is inserted. Thankfully, if you press the Guide button on your controller (or the Steam button if you’re on Deck), it will bring up the RetroArch menu, so if you want to re-configure your controls, or change the video resolution and such, it’s possible.

If you head over to the Kazeta Wiki, there’s actually a runtime file for Sega Genesis ROMs. Setting your cartridge up for this is similar to how you would set up a Linux or Windows cartridge. This simplifies the emulation process, and Alkazar has plans for adding more runtimes for other systems in the future.

Discussing Features

Some folks had expressed interest in having Bluetooth compatibility with controllers. While it would be a nice feature, I can see why support for it was omitted. For one, we didn’t have Bluetooth controllers back in the 90s. As such, I think implementing this would ruin the 90s vibe that this distro is supposed to give, while also taking away some of the simplicity of the way the operating system works. Second, wired controllers are the best way to go in terms of latency. Button presses on Bluetooth gamepads are going to be far less responsive.

Needs a Lot of Work – But It’s There

Other than that, there’s not really much else to say here. But that’s kind of the point. You just put a cart in, turn the power button on, and play. I think my brain is so hardwired when it comes to dealing with launchers, logins, DRM, and the like that it will honestly take some time to re-adjust to the way our gaming lives were back in the 90s – much more simple.

Kazeta is a brilliant way to bridge the gap with more casual gamers or older folks who don’t want to deal with things like Steam’s complicated menu structure, or having multiple launchers to contend with and having a login for each of them. It’s also a nostalgic trip for those of us who want to preserve our physical media. A DRM-free gaming experience means we don’t have to worry about applications like Steam running in the background, neither do we need a physical keyboard to type our usernames and passwords just to play a game. An Internet-free connection means that paranoid users don’t have to worry about their data being collected.

I think someone like my older brother could benefit from this. Even though he’s a gamer, as a non-technical user, he hates his Xbox Series X. Being able to bring a mini PC to his home, plugging it into his TV, and getting right into the action by putting in a cartridge and simply turning the power button on would be of great appeal to him.

Aside from the work you have to put in to create your own carts – and the cumbersome troubleshooting that follows in the event they don’t work – the vision is there. There’s hit-and-miss compatibility with Windows games, sometimes your controller might not work the way that you want it to, and emulating titles that don’t have a Kazeta runtime requires a bit of work. Alkazar has admitted himself in the Discord that Kazeta “is full of bugs and unimplemented features” and is currently “experimental”.

That being said, I know in due time a lot of the issues I had mentioned will have either a fix or a workaround. I’m looking forward to Kazeta becoming an even more polished experience!

TL;DR

The good:

easy-to-use installer
DRM-free gaming experience
physical media!
simple plug n’ play system
no logins
a nostalgic trip to the 90s with the way we played games back then
internal hard drive doesn’t need to be that big, as it only stores the operating system and game save files
no Internet connection required

The not-so-good:

iffy controller compatibility, without there being an efficient way to re-configure them
Windows games fail to run 9 out of 10 times
setting up cartridges takes a bit of work, especially when it comes to emulation
very cumbersome troubleshooting steps that require you to use the command line
CD/DVD playback is not currently implemented

Want to try it yourself? Head over to the Kazeta website to get started!

The End of LGC

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:23:29 +0000

I’ve got a bit of a fever as I’m writing this post. But also – in case no one could clearly tell from the website getting abruptly shut down not once, but twice – I’m mentally sick.

To everyone who’s been asking me if I’m okay: no. I am not okay.

As much as I want to keep LGC around, and as much as I didn’t want to break that promise, unfortunately writing for this site has taken quite a beating on my mental health and sanity. So much so that that has what caused me to impulsively shut everything down out of nowhere. My sanity will just simply not permit me to continue running this site. All the crap that’s going on in my personal and family life doesn’t do much to help. Maybe the autism spectrum has something to do with it. I don’t know.

As a content creator, there’s this constant anxiety. You ask yourself, “What am I going to talk about today? Is the news relevant to what I primarily talk about on the site? If I do decide to talk about it, how much detail should I get into it? Are other websites talking about it too? How quickly should I get it out, or should I wait a few days in case clarification arises later? How many articles should I get out?” Because, in this fast-paced day and age of the Internet, as soon as you stop posting content, you also stop having any sort of relevance, because there’s always going to be at least one website that’s going to get to the news that you didn’t cover. So, I’ve always felt the need to have at least one post out per day.

Many of us have to work outside of writing or making videos about the things we love. As someone who works six days a week, when I get home from a long day, I just want to relax. I want to de-stress from the day and play a couple of rounds of Smash Brothers. But I couldn’t do that as a content creator. After I come home from work, I’d have that pressure of writing a review for that Steam Deck accessory I may have got at three in the morning. And though some may be jealous of some of the stuff I’ve gotten over the years, what other content creators may not tell you is the untold amount of hours that go on behind the scenes reviewing that product. Getting a camera ready and recording to do an unboxing. Taking that video and editing it on the computer so it’s presentable. The untold amount of photos that have to be taken at every angle, and also editing and cropping those. The amount of time that goes into writing the review itself. Should you include a teardown video? If so should you talk about the repairability perspective? At that point you might as well just buy the accessory with your own money and take that pressure off of yourself.

As someone who’s been writing for close to ten years now, I would tend to think I would get paid at this point. Or, at least write for a site that would. I can’t begin to describe in words how frustrating and unfair it’s been to see websites that are “younger” than me become so successful that they’re able to write for their site as a full-time job in just one year. Nevermind the fact that they didn’t even have any prior experience in journalism when they founded their website. Attributing their success to “luck” seems like absolute BS to me.

As a reminder, for the majority of the time I’ve been running LGC, I didn’t ask for money. And even when I did, I was getting chump change at $10 a month. That $10 is just enough to buy a latte – a latte that has maybe five or six ounces of liquid, followed by two pounds of ice. Even without making any money, running this site felt like a full-time job. I just sort of felt this moral obligation that I had to report on every little thing that I saw, and then I would feel bad if I didn’t cover it.

People have suggested to just take a break. However, it’s frankly hard to do so. Because, that whole time you’re taking a break, you’re still thinking about what you’re going to talk about when you get back. You also have the anxiety of knowing that, there are articles that you missed during that week that you took off, and now you feel pressured to play catch-up as soon as you return.

People have told me I shouldn’t give up. Yet, if I don’t give up on this website, I might as well just continue to give up on my sanity and going towards this downward spiral – to the point where something bad might happen. Which, of course, none of us want.

People tell me I should get therapy. Here’s the thing, though: therapy doesn’t come cheap. And don’t get me started on the whole “Don’t you have health insurance?” thing. That’s a can of worms in of itself. By not having the website around, maybe I actually could afford it, because I’ll have more time to work.

LGC will shut down for good on the two-year anniversary on March 7, 2024. It’s not going to last a day longer than that. Because, every time I look at this website, I have to be reminded of the arguments I’ve gotten into with other content creators. I have to be reminded of the uncomfortable silence from a content creator who once supported me but suddenly turned cold a few weeks later and responded with a curt “no comment” when I asked if I did anything that may have offended them. I have to be reminded of just how much better other websites and YouTubers are doing, even if they haven’t been around as long as I have. I have to be reminded of just how much it pisses me off to hear a content creator’s voice, seeing other people link to their work, or just seeing their site show up in a search engine. I have to be reminded of those ungrateful sacks of crap who haven’t expressed any appreciation for the hard-earned cash I sent their way, or maybe even the games I bought for them because I felt bad. I have to be reminded of just how much time and money I invest into this site, only for little to be returned.

So, I kindly ask that, if there’s an article you wish to keep before the website shuts down for good, please download it now. Seems like most of my articles have been cached on the Wayback Machine, so I guess you may not even have to do anything on your part.

Where am I going to go at this point? It’s frankly too early to tell at this point. I will say though, it will be nice to actually play a game on my Legion Go and not have the anxiety of needing to write a review for it, or write a guide on how to install mods for it. It will be nice to actually have time to go for a walk now, or go to the gym. It will be nice to actually have more hours to work so that I can spend money on myself and my personal projects – not to send that money to some scumbag that’s just going to block me at the end of the day.

To the 99% of people who have actually supported me: thank you for the kind words you’ve sent over the years. Please know that this post isn’t directed at you personally. Big shoutout to Luke Short, who has been a great moral support for me well throughout the time LGC has been around. Whenever I fell down, he was always there to pick me back up. Always had a kind word to say to me, and never put me down. Thanks also go to Steam Deck Checker, who has been pretty much the only content creator out there who has cared enough to actually link to my work from time-to-time. And thanks to Samsagax, who has checked in on me occasionally.

P.S.: if any of you had sent me any DMs on Discord, I didn’t get them. My Discord account is in the process of deactivation. If you need to get a hold of me please email me.

Steam Deck 2 Details Might Have Leaked

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 07:17:09 +0000

Ready to head into some wild speculation here? Well good, because we might have some juicy info on the upcoming Steam Deck 2. Or maybe the Switch 2. Or some other handheld. That’s how murky this leak is.

If we head over to the Chiphell forums, a user had posted “gossip about a handheld device.” Note that this isn’t specifically referring to the Steam Deck 2 and could be referring to another device. Also we’re going to have to navigate these forums via Google’s not-so-great translator, since the original language is in Chinese (also using Notebook Check as an added resource). We don’t even know the background of this partcular “leaker” and whether or not the “gossip” could be valid.

The original post is as follows, translated via Google Translate:

Not true, because the sale is good, the flat screen will no longer be used. The original horizontal screen 900p + 90Hz + OLED（screen is heard. It may be changed later). Customized Ferrari engine 6-cylinder fourth-generation gasoline machine +160 horsepower motor（remember to divide by 10 oh）the supply of gasoline No. 8533 26 years q3-q4 release. The price should increase a lot. The existing model will continue to be sold as a low match.

Yeah. A “customized Ferrari engine” with 6 cylinders, powered by gas with 160 horsepower sounds a lot like the new APU Valve may be using in their next-gen Steam Deck. But if you’ll continue to bear with me here, Notebook Check was basically able to translate the details as follows:

a 6-core, Zen 4 (Hawk Point) APU with 16 compute units, or 8 workgroup processors (WGP)
LPDRR5X RAM clocked at 8,533 MT/s (no word on capacity)
900p OLED screen at 90 Hz
Q3-Q4 2026 launch
“significant price increase” but Valve will continue to sell older units at a discount

No word on the amount of storage it will come with, or whether it will still be in 2230 form or not. If they’re going with a 900p screen, we can probably assume that the Deck 2 will retain the 16:10 aspect ratio of the original Deck and have a 1440 x 900p resolution.

Given that Griffais mentioned to The Verge that the Deck 2 won’t be out until late 2025 or 2026, the release date makes sense, especially given the fact the OLED model just shipped a few months ago and I don’t see them shipping a new device any time soon. I really don’t think Nintendo would wait that long to push out the Switch 2, so it’s a safer bet that the leak is referring to the Deck 2.

What do you make of this? Is this some random BS that someone decided to throw around just for the sake of attention? Or do you think it might contain some legitimacy?

Want to Make a Console Box out of Your Steam Deck? You Can Do That

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 06:35:55 +0000

Actually a bit surprised no one discovered this sooner, but it turns out you can just salvage the motherboard out of the Steam Deck and use it as a console. Just connect a power supply, keyboard and mouse, and a HDMI cable via a USB-C dock, and you’re good to go. No battery needed. But you may want to throw in a CPU cooler for good measure.

That’s exactly what u/Ayeitsyaboii did on r/SteamDeck. “Yes, you can plug a bare motherboard into a dock and it’s fully functional with no extra steps,” they said. “I added a CPU cooler just to make it that much more ridiculous.” Though this user had used the LCD version of the motherboard, it’s likely that the OLED mobo will work just fine on its own as well.

Just imagine the possibilities here. You could make a custom case for the tiny mobo and turn it into a mini PC/console. Or you could just strap it to the back of your monitor with a VESA clip and have your all-in-one PC ready to go. Or put in a full-size NVMe drive instead of the shorter, more-expensive 2230 version. Cool the heck out of it and overclock it like no one’s business. Maybe plug in an external GPU?

“Hey Valve!” one Reddit user in the thread commented. “Sell us this in a cute box!”

iFixit used to sell the motherboard by itself, but I’m not seeing it available in the parts store now. If I recall correctly they were sold for $350 a pop anyway, so you might as well just buy a 256 GB LCD Deck for $400…or maybe get a refurbished 64 GB model from GameStop for cheaper, if you can actually find one. The closest one to me is 36 miles away…haha.

Images credit of u/Ayeitsyaboii.

Baldur's Gate 3 CEO Shoots Back at Ubisoft: "It’s Going to Be a Lot Harder to Get Good Content if Subscription Becomes the Dominant Model"

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 06:08:33 +0000

You probably heard Ubisoft’s director of subscriptions, Philippe Tremblay, mentioning to gamesindustry.biz that gamers should feel “comfortable with not owning your game” due to subscription services like Xbox Game Pass becoming more popular. And you probably thought, “The nerve of that guy!”

And, despite X/Twitter being a somewhat hostile place, I do get a good chuckle out of it every once in a while. Take a look at some of the responses he got:

If it makes you feel any better, Swen Vincke, CEO of Larian Studios – the company behind Baldur’s Gate 3 – also went in at the potential dangers of game subscription services:

Whatever the future of games looks like, content will always be king. But it’s going to be a lot harder to get good content if subscription becomes the dominant model and a select group gets to decide what goes to market and what not. Direct from developer to players is the way.

He further goes on to say “subscription models will always end up being cost/benefit analysis exercises intended to maximize profit” and “we are already all dependent on a select group of digital distribution platforms and discoverability is brutal. Should those platforms all switch to subscription, it’ll become savage.”

He makes it clear that “you won’t find our games on a subscription service…I just want to make sure the other ecosystem doesn’t die because it’s valuable.”

Glad to see I’m not the only one who actually still sees the value in “owning” your games as opposed to “renting” them.

Headbangers: Rhythm Royale Review

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:51:48 +0000

If you like rhythm games, I would recommend Headbangers: Rhythm Royale. As Boiling Steam put it, it’s the “Fall Guys of Rhythm Games”.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I sort of get these Mario Party vibes when playing the game. From the groovy music that plays on the main menu, to the funky personality of the characters, to the mini games that are played.

You play as an odd-shaped, teal-colored pigeon. You can customize the way your pigeon looks from the main menu, from their hair style, to what they wear for glasses, to neckbands, to their main article of clothing. More cosmetics can be purchased with the in-game currency, which is bread (no, I’m not kidding you).

When you hit “Play”, the game will attempt to find 29 other players around the world. If you have crossplay enabled, this will allow you to find more players who are playing on console. When the countdown timer ends and the game can’t find enough players, it will fill in the void by adding CPU-controlled opponents.

From there, a series of random mini games are played. In “Garden Party”, for example, you’ll have to press the appropriate button in time to the music being played. In “Guess It!” you’ll need to match the sound you heard to the appropriate instrument presented on the screen. There’s 23 mini games altogether, and most of them involve some sort of rhythmic pattern to follow, where you have to press a series of buttons and time them as closely as possible to the original beat being played.

Make a mistake, and you might be eliminated. This is where the Fall Guys comparison comes in. So, though the game starts off with 30 players, 10 are eliminated each round. Do your best in the mini game, and you might have a shot at surviving to the next round. There will be 20 players in the second round, 10 in the third, and finally, 5 in the fourth and final mini game. By the fourth round, you simply can’t afford to make any mistakes; if you make as much as one, you’ll be eliminated. This will continue until there is one lone survivor standing. The longer you last, the more “bread” you earn.

The mini games will start off easy. In “Fitness”, for example, your job is to tilt your pigeon’s head in conjunction with the pattern that the coach pigeon sets. As time goes on, however, the coach’s patterns will be more difficult to follow, as the coach will rapidly move its head from side to side, making it harder to remember their pattern. The players who mimic the coach’s movements the most will survive onto the next round.

During each mini game, some blocks will randomly fly around. If you’re fast enough and press the appropriate button, your pigeon will grab this box, giving you some kind of bonus, like double points, or will cause calamity to your foes, such as temporarily blocking a part of their screen. It’s hard enough as it is trying to study the patterns set by the “main” player, so to speak, so it can be a bit distracting trying to grab these items. There’s also the “bonus rounds” where tilting your pigeon’s head around in circles as fast as possible will earn you bonus points. Try and see if you can do all of this while trying to focus on the main objective of the mini game.

I will say the game is a bit barebones in terms of game modes. There’s no training mode. There’s no offline play mode. Basically, customize your pigeon through the in-game store, set a couple of different in-game options if you need to, see your progress, then play online. What actually surprises me, is there is no options in terms of graphics configuration. You can control the resolution, adjust input latency, enable or disable crossplay, enable or disable vsync, but there’s no graphics presets to choose from. You’re stuck with the default preset as is. Thinking that this might have been just specific to the Steam Deck, I tried running the game on my laptop. Nope, that wasn’t the problem.

There’s also no Steam Cloud support. Man, this is really getting on my nerves. Seems like half the games I’ve reviewed over the past six months or so don’t have this feature.

Works Excellent on Deck

No complaints here. Runs out-of-the-box on Deck. I do recommend playing this game with the OLED model if you have one; the higher 90 Hz refresh rate, as well as the reduced input latency, will definitely come in handy here since button timing is critical.

In the main menu I was able to set the TDP limit to 5 W and the max GPU clock speed to 600 MHz while still maintaining 90 FPS. However, this framerate may slow down a bit while in-game, so a safer option would be 6 W/700 MHz respectively.

Family-Friendly Fun

All in all, I like this game. It actually kind of reminds me of the Mario Party games I played as a kid. Those games were a lot of fun, and so is Headbangers. The mini games are vibrant and can be quite a challenge the longer you try to survive. The game could use a bit of QoL improvements as far as graphics options, as well as at least having a training mode, but otherwise, it’s pretty great.

TL;DR

The good:

groovy music, groovy characters
Mario Party nostalgia
entertaining, challenging mini games
crossplay
works great on Deck!

The not-so-good:

barebones in terms of game modes; no training mode
no adjustable graphics options
no Steam cloud support

Headbangers is available on Steam for $20.

Review key provided by PressEngine.

Wine 9.0 Released, Adds Experimental Wayland Support and ARM64 Support

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 22:16:48 +0000

After five release candidate stages, a year of development effort, and “over 7,000 individual changes,” Wine 9.0 is now released as stable. Some new features with this release:

WoW64 support
experimental Wayland support – basic window management, multiple monitors, high-DPI scaling, relative motion events, and Vulkan support
Windows binaries can now be run on ARM64!
dark theme support via WinRT theming
support up to Vulkan 1.3.272
“better graphics performance” via GdiPlus function optimizations
lower power consumption “in programs which do not occupy the command stream’s entire available bandwidth”
D3D10 effects “support many more instructions”
better compatibility with older games that use DirectInput action maps
“better memory allocation performance” via Low Fragmentation Heap (LFH)
updates to bundled libraries, including VKD3D (1.10) and Faudio (23.12)
among many, many other improvements

Keep in mind in regards to Wayland, it isn’t enabled by default. Users will have to run the following:

wine reg.exe add HKCU\\Software\\Wine\\Drivers /v Graphics /d x11,wayland

Then make sure the DISPLAY environment variable is unset.

It will probably take a few months before Valve re-bases Proton on this new release, but no doubt it will be an update to look forward to!

See the full patch notes on WineHQ.

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Three New Titles, Fixes Bayonetta

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 22:47:07 +0000

Yesterday’s Proton Experimental update adds compatibility to the following titles:

Crash fixing has been added to the following:

Bayonetta
TouHou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part I and II
Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories epilogue

Finally, “recent Proton Experimental regressions” have been fixed for Ground Branch’s community test update and ReBoRumble.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Road to Vostok

Steam Deck Client Update Reduces Black Screen Flashing, Adds New Pixel Scaling Filter

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 07:01:26 +0000

New Steam Deck client update has shipped to all users yesterday evening. One nice feature with this update, is there is less flashing on the screen when you open the Steam menu while playing a game and have a custom refresh rate set up. This was giving me a bit of a headache, so I’m glad to see the screen flickering has been reduced.

The Nearest scaling filter has been replaced with Pixel. According to the patch notes, this is a “pseudo-bandlimited filter for upscaling pixel art to non-integer factors without introducing aliasing.”

The HDR Debug Visualization setting has been moved from Settings -> Display to the Developer tab, and has been reset to “None” for all users.

The Steam Workshop has received a few QoL improvements. For one, the subscriptions list has been re-designed and adds a few new ways to sort the list. The “local load order” of subs can be changed, subs can be disabled, and subs can now be added to collections. This, along with a plethora of other improvements.

As usual with each update, there are quite a few bug fixes, ranging from the “Friends who Play” section, to CoD Black Ops III crashing when a map was switched, to the Steam client downloading the Windows-only version of a game and trying to run it without Proton, to incorrect left trackpad haptic triggering on the OLED model, to additional artwork not showing up properly on the OST details page, to non-Steam shortcuts causing a crash, to Steam Cloud.

See the full patch notes on Steam.

SteamOS Finally Shipping on a Device Other than the Steam Deck

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 20:51:15 +0000

Valve’s Lawrence Yang had told PC Gamer a few months’ back that “we want to make SteamOS more widely available. We’ll probably start with making it more available to other handhelds.”

That (might) finally become a reality with the Aya Neo Next Lite. This handheld will have SteamOS pre-installed. Or, supposedly it will be using SteamOS. Which is interesting, considering the company said they were working on Aya Neo OS, which, on the official website, says “coming soon.”

You might actually be surprised at the price of the Next Lite. No, it’s not a grand. It’s even less than the 256 GB Steam Deck LCD model. Prices start at $300.

Per their blog post:

AYANEO NEXT LITE is a value-for-money product that inherits the high-end design and texture of the flagship AYANEO NEXT, further lowering the entry barrier for X86 handheld gaming devices. This ensures the widespread adoption of leading features of high-end flagships, providing an upgraded gaming experience for more players to enjoy immersive and smooth gaming experiences.

Specs are as follows:

7", 800p screen
Ryzen 5 4500U or Ryzen 7 4800U
“hall sensing” joysticks and triggers
47 Wh battery
three USB 3.2 type C ports
M.2 2280 PCIe 3 NVMEe storage (128 GB or 512 GB, depending on the version you get)
Wi-Fi 6/Bluetooth 5.2
16 GB LPDDR4 @4266 MHz

Here’s where the asterisk comes in as far as whether or not it’s actually using SteamOS. The post mentions the SteamOS image they’re using is “based on HoloISO”:

AYANEO NEXT LITE is the first to come pre-installed with the SteamOS gaming system, adapted and optimized by the AYANEO official team based on HoloISO. The streamlined and efficient SteamOS offers players convenient game management, smooth and stable game performance, lower overall power consumption, and native compatibility with controllers and touchscreen operations, aligning with the habits of handheld gaming.

This makes me wonder if Aya Neo didn’t actually collaborate with Valve on this and instead forked HoloISO specically for their use case.

In any case, it’s nice to see some more budget-friendly handhelds coming out to the market. Though keep in mind the RAM is one class lower than the DDR5 the Steam Deck uses, is slightly slower in speed, and the processor that it comes with isn’t going to be fantastic in terms of performance.

See more details on Aya Neo’s website.

Images are credit of Aya Neo.

Turning the Steam Deck Into a Satisfying Clicky Handheld

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 08:05:48 +0000

When you get a controller, it’s going to come in one of three flavors:

mushy
in-between
clicky

Each individual has their own preferences when it comes to the “loudness” of the button presses. Some like it loud. There’s just something about that nice, “crisp” sound as you press the buttons down with your fingers. That satisfying “click” that lets you know you pressed a button. On the other hand, some may find clicky buttons to sound obnoxious. Something you’d definitely not want to use if your partner is in bed. So, it’s good that we have both worlds.

Now, the Steam Deck in particular – especially with the LCD model – doesn’t quite offer that “clicky” experience. No. Especially not where the Steam and QAM buttons are.

That’s where eXtremeRate comes in. The company that’s notorious for offering DIY tools for customizing the heck out of your controllers. And your Steam Deck. They actually have a clicky kit specially designed for the Steam Deck LCD model. This kit transforms your ABXY buttons, D-pad, and Start/Select buttons into that satisfying clicky goodness.

Do note, however, this may not be compatibile with the Steam Deck OLED. Upon asking eXtremeRate why this is the case, they told me:

We’ve tested the kit on the OLED and sometimes the kit is out of service after plugging the ribbon, but sometimes it worked. So we assume the ribbon connector of the OLED is structurally slightly different from that of the LCD and needs to connect the ribbon right on the contacts precisely. That’s the problem we noted from the tests.

They sent me two kits. I just used one for the LCD model that I have. I paid a pretty penny for my limited edition OLED model and I am NOT about to risk breaking the device in the event the clicky kit doesn’t register properly.

Box Contents

Inside the small black box is the following:

“gamer” manual with the front cover looking just like a Gameboy
Phillips screwdriver
spudger
extra set of screws and springs for the triggers
two sets of membranes for the D-pad and ABXY buttons
sticky thing for the D-pad; don’t ask me what the technical term for it is as I have no idea
the clicky kit for the D-pad/Select and ABXY/Start buttons

Personally, I found the tiny booklet they provided to be adorable. It was also good on them to provide extra screws should you lose any, as well as an extra set of membranes. However, you’re probably going to want to use your own Phillips screwdriver for taking the Deck apart; the tiny little thing they give you is frankly hot garbage. It does a terrible job trying to unscrew the screws on the back of the Deck.

Installation

Installation isn’t too difficult. Not as difficult as replacing the screen. No hair drying or soldering required. Essentially, installation is as follows:

take the back shell off
unscrew the screws holding the heat shield in place. Take the heat shield off and disconnect the battery cable
remove the triggers
disconnect a few ribbon cables
unscrew the screws holding the thumbstick and daughterboards in place, then move them aside
remove the two screws holding the shoulder button in, then remove the shoulder button
peel off the flexible printed circuit (FPC) off the shoulder button
take the clicky kit, peel of the sticker, apply it to the shoulder button
take the old membrane out for the D-pad/ABXY buttons, put the new white membrane in
for the D-pad, make sure you apply that sticky thing that the box supplies

Then follow these steps in reverse to put the Deck back together.

In the installation video that eXtremeRate provides, they mention using tape to hold the thumbstick and daughterboard in place. However, no tape is provided in the box. They also recommend using a hair dryer to soften the sticky surface of the FPC and make it easier to peel off, but I personally have not needed to do this.

Clicky-ness, Here We Come

After I installed the kit on both sides, the Deck wouldn’t detect the buttons at all when I turned the device on. Steam just reported “No gamepad connected.” I turned the Deck back off, re-connected a few of the ribbon cables, then I was good to go. So, just watch out for the ribbon cables. Make sure they’re properly inserted. You may want to use a pair of tweezers. Also make sure the insulation tape for the ribbon cable going to the D-pad/ABXY buttons is properly covered back up when you put the Deck together.

The buttons just feel nice now. There’s less resistance to the button presses. And a nice “click” sound is heard. Other than that, I really don’t have much else to say here. I just wish I had a way to measure the latency of the button presses and the reaction time on screen. My gut feeling tells me there is now slightly less input lag, but I have no way to verify this at the moment, so don’t quote me on that.

What is a bit of a missed opportunity, however, is the kit could have provided a clicky kit for the Steam and QAM buttons. They’re still mushy as ever in my LCD model.

Another thing is, instead of having the modder peel off the old FPC on the shoulder button and put the new one in place, perhaps eXtremeRate could have provided the entire shoulder assembly from the get-go. So all the modder would have to do is take the old shoulder button out and put the new one in with the FPC pre-applied.

The $20 asking price? That’s not too bad. Installation is relatively straightforward, and this is a great way to upgrade your LCD Steam Deck.

TL;DR

The good:

box provides everything you need to install the kit, including extra screws and an extra set of membranes
straightforward installation
satisfying clicky-ness!

The not-so-good:

not compatible with the OLED model
provided screwdriver is small and doesn’t do a very good job taking out the screws
this is only for the D-pad/ABXY buttons; there’s no FPC supplied for the Steam/QAM buttons
shoulder buttons could have been provided with the FPC pre-applied to make installation easier

You can get the eXtremeRate clicky kit on the official website and several other retailers for $20.

Review sample sent courtesy of eXtremeRate.

BigBig Won Rainbow 2 Pro - The Most Sophisticated Controller I've Ever Used

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 04:12:23 +0000

I am an absolute sucker when it comes to gamepads. There’s just something about them that I’m obsessed with.

So, the folks at BigBig Won sent over their Rainbow 2 Pro controller. While at first glance it looks like an Xbox controller, it can do far more than meets the eye.

Box Contents

There are two versions of this controller: one with just the controller itself, and one that comes with a charger, extra sticks, and a rubber-dome D-pad. BigBig Won sent me the one with the extras. Aside from the controller itself, here’s what it comes with:

USB type C cable
multilingual instruction manual
USB dongle for wireless communication
four sets of sticks – two that are medium height, two that are taller (the gamepad uses the short ones by default)
rubber dome D-pad
charger

The controller has foam circles surrounding the sticks upon unboxing. Actually a pretty good idea; this will keep the sticks from getting inadvertently tilted while the box ships.

Look and Feel

It looks like an Xbox controller – asymmetrical sticks, headphone jack, ABXY buttons, Guide button, Start, Select, Share, shoulder buttons, triggers, you name it. However, it has two back buttons and two additional buttons on the top. The Guide button icon uses the BigBig Won logo (looks similar to a gladiator’s helmet). Sometimes this button will change color depending on what you’re doing with the controller.

Additionally, it has a Function button by the right stick that will allow you to:

turn the RGBs on or off
adjust the vibration strength
set up simulated gyro
flash an indicator, telling you what it’s doing when you’re re-mapping a button, setting up turbo, or setting up a macro recording
adjust turbo frequency
adjust volume of headphones if they’re connected

Towards the bottom of the controller are four buttons. From left to right, they function as follows:

turbo
remap
macro
controller profile switching

Not much to say here as far as how the controller feels. It feels just like a regular Xbox controller. Not too small, not too big. The back grips are textured. The shoulder buttons and triggers are partially padded, just like the Xbox Series X|S controller.

The front-facing part of the controller is semi-transparent. Not quite translucent enough to see the intricacies of the motherboard, but you can see the main parts of it anyway.

On the back of the controller are two levers for adjusting the trigger deadzones, a connection for charging the gamepad with the included charger, and eight Phillips screws. There’s also a QR code for opening the instruction manual via your web browser.

The box comes with four extra sticks and a rubber-dome D-pad. You can easily take out the sticks by pulling them out and replacing it with a taller one or a shorter one. If you’d rather not use the 8-way D-pad that’s on the controller by default, you can pull this out too and replace it with the rubber-dome pad. Pretty nice to change these on the fly, depending on your preferences.

Features

You can re-map any of the four extra buttons (M1 to M4) to any of the available buttons, either using the mobile app or using the second button on the bottom of the controller.

Want turbo? That’s here too. You can even adjust the frequency with which the button is mashed: five times per second, 10 times per second, or 20 times per second. Hell, there’s even macro recording! And adjustable rumble levels!

Joystick gyro can be simulated using the Function button plus the click of the stick you want to simulate. If you want to only activate the gyro for the right stick when a trigger is held, you can do that too.

Now let’s say you want a couple of separate profiles. Maybe you want a profile specifically set up for shooters. Another for use in Xbox mode. A third for really strong rumble. A fourth for having a couple of turbo buttons set up. The controller supports up to four different profiles! You can seamlessly switch between profiles by pressing the appropriate button on the gamepad.

Who says you need built-in software to calibrate the joysticks, triggers, or gyro? You can do all of that through the controller itself by pressing the appropriate button combination. The LEDs on the controller will change color to let you know what it’s doing.

The triggers can also be adjusted as to how far they can be pushed down. Using the levers on the back, these can be positioned upwards to make the trigger stop sooner when you press it. These can be useful for games that need a hair-like trigger response, such as first-person shooters. On the other hand, you may want to switch back to full-stop triggers for racing games. It’s all going to depend on your use case.

Connection Types

There’s three different methods of connectivity:

wired (USB type C)
wireless via the USB-C dongle
Bluetooth

Naturally, if you want the fastest polling rate possible, you’ll want to use a wired connection. According to the BigBig Won website, the polling rate while using a wired connection is 1,000 Hz, or every millisecond. With the 2.4 GHz connection, that polling rate goes down to 200 Hz. Bluetooth would be 125 Hz. Pairing the controller via Bluetooth will require holding the pairing button on the top of the controller, then adding the device on the computer. Pairing the controller with the USB dongle is a similar process.

You can actually switch between “Xbox” mode and “Nintendo Switch” mode. After pressing the correct button combination, the controller LED colors will change, indicating the mode has switched. Putting the controller in Switch mode should enable the gyro (I put that word in italics, because Steam for some reason isn’t picking up the gyro), at the expense of the triggers becoming just buttons without any in-game sensitivity.

LEDs

RGBs…gotta have ’em. There’s a light strip that surrounds the outer front part of the controller. With the mobile app that BigBig Won provides, you can customize the way the RGBs behave. There’s just way too many things to list here, but you can change the color with a RGB wheel, use one color on one side of the controller while using a different one on the other, use breathing effects, adjust the speed and brightness, and well, many, many other things.

But the light strip is also important when it comes to telling you what the controller is doing. Putting the gamepad in Xbox mode, for example, will turn the strip green. Putting it in Switch mode will make it red. Resetting the calibration of the joysticks/triggers will cause an orange breathing effect. Calibrating the gyro will cause the controller to blink purple. If the battery is low, the color will blink red. If you’re using the charger, the controller will turn a solid green when charging is complete.

There’s a Function button located by the right stick. If you press this twice, it will switch from the default color, to the color you defined in the app. Alternatively, if you’re the type that doesn’t like LEDs/RGBs, you can also set this off with this button.

Functionality

Now that I’ve finally explained the overwhelming number of customization options you have with this controller, I can get into the actual experience of using the gamepad.

If you like clicky, you’re gonna like this. The D-pad and shoulder buttons are nice and “crisp” to the touch, if you will. The ABXY buttons aren’t quite as clicky. But they don’t feel cheap either.

Honestly, the turbo and macro buttons are things that I don’t need. I don’t even need to use the back paddles or the extra two buttons on the top. But those functionalities are there, should anyone else need to use them.

Steam is just not picking up the gyro and it’s a bit frustrating. I might need to set up some udev rules to actually get it to work. In the meantime I can use the simulated gyro controls. The problem with this though is that it simulates joystick movement as opposed to mouse, so it’s not going to offer the same precision as using mouse simulation.

Other than that, I don’t have much else to say. It mostly works as it should. When I have the gamepad set to Xbox mode, Pop!_OS will just not pick up the controller at all. So I have to use Switch mode for now, without being able to use analog triggers. Oddly enough though when using the gamepad on my Legion Go, only the Xbox mode will work. And then, on my Deck OLED, both modes work.

One thing that is missing though, is this controller could have benefited from having hall-effect sticks. I find it a bit funny that, despite the ridiculous amount of customization you have with this gamepad, the sticks themselves are using potentiometers. I won’t be surprised if this gamepad suffers from stick drift five years from now. It’s the one thing that would have made this controller the ultimate controller and where you wouldn’t need to buy another for a long time.

Concluding Thoughts

For the amount of customization with this controller, the $60 asking price with the extras is a pretty good deal. The box with just the controller is around $50. (This is going by the current prices on Amazon. The actual price may be higher depending on when and where you get it.) The RGBs are nice, being able to see the basic internals of the controller via the translucent shell is a plus. You get turbo, macro recording, four extra re-mappable buttons, adjustable stick length, adjustable D-pad feel, adjustable trigger length, Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz wireless, adjustable rumble, simulated gyro…the list just goes on and on.

On the Linux side of things, though, you probably won’t be able to get the native gyro to work (unless you get the proper udev rules set up). You’ll just have to use simulated joystick gyro for now. The potentiometer-based sticks are also a missed opportunity. Not a big deal but there isn’t a dark mode for the mobile app.

TL;DR

The good:

a ridiculous amount of customization, from re-mappable buttons, to turbo, to macro recording, and everything in-between
easily switch between a standard D-pad and a rubber-dome version
easily swap out the sticks for a longer or shorter one, depending on your use case
RGBs!
translucent front shell
simulated gyro
support for Xbox mode and Nintendo Switch mode
adjustable trigger length
not a bad asking price

The not-so-good:

native gyro is not working on Linux
intermittent connectivity issues depending on what device I’m using
sticks are using potentiometers
no dark mode for mobile app

You can get the Rainbow 2 Pro through the official website or through Amazon.

Review sample sent courtesy of BigBig Won.

Valve Changes Their Mind Regarding AI-Generated Games

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 03:02:08 +0000

If you thought 2023 was a dreadful year in regards to AI taking over, well, I’m afraid the worse is yet to come this year. In just the first couple of weeks in 2024 we’re already seeing AI aggressively becoming more and more prominent, from the media to games alike.

“Back in June,” says the recently posted blog post from Steam, “we shared that while our goal continues to be shipping as many games as possible on Steam, we needed some time to learn about the fast-moving and legally murky space of AI technology, especially given Steam’s worldwide reach.”

Now that a few months have passed, Steam is now allowing the use of AI technology and “release the vast majority of games that use it.”

Not like anyone is going to follow the requirements to submit an AI-generated game on Steam, but the blog post continues with the pre-requisites prior to releasing said game:

Pre-Generated: Any kind of content (art/code/sound/etc) created with the help of AI tools during development. Under the Steam Distribution Agreement, you promise Valve that your game will not include illegal or infringing content, and that your game will be consistent with your marketing materials. In our pre-release review, we will evaluate the output of AI generated content in your game the same way we evaluate all non-AI content - including a check that your game meets those promises.

Live-Generated: Any kind of content created with the help of AI tools while the game is running. In addition to following the same rules as Pre-Generated AI content, this comes with an additional requirement: in the Content Survey, you’ll need to tell us what kind of guardrails you’re putting on your AI to ensure it’s not generating illegal content. Only “Adult Only Sexual Content” that’s created with AI is prohibited from being released.

They mention that they will use this disclosure during their review process. In addition, if an end-user believes that they are seeing “illegal content inside games that contain Live-Generated AI content” during gameplay, then they can submit a report using the in-game Steam overlay.

The post wraps up with this:

It’s taken us some time to figure this out, and we’re sorry that has made it harder for some developers to make decisions around their games. But we don’t feel like we serve our players or developer partners by rushing into decisions that have this much complexity. We’ll continue to learn from the games being submitted to Steam, and the legal progress around AI, and will revisit this decision when necessary.

Oh boy. Steam, as it is right now, frankly does a terrible job when it comes to curating games and prohibiting the ones that are made with a half-assed effort. With this move, I can already see Steam becoming a hot pile of AI-generated garbage, loaded with shovelware titles. And who said Valve is actually going to put forth the effort to take a genuine look at the game and see whether or not AI was involved with the development process? Who said the game developer is actually going to put a disclaimer on their Steam store page that some or all of the in-game content was generated with AI?

Get ready. 2024 is going to be a hot mess when it comes to games.

GE-Proton8-27 Fixes Farlight 84, Renegade Ops, The Forest

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 19:38:04 +0000

Thomas Crider is “back from visiting” his “family for the holidays and thus work is back in full swing.” So here’s what we got with yesterday’s update to GE-Proton.

Fixes have either been added or updated for the following titles:

There is now a “unified fix” for the following:

CPU topology
ProtonAudioConv
XLiveLess XLive (I guess this is a mod for GTA 4)
Esync/Fsync enable/disable

NVIDIA Reflex was initially implemented in 8-26 but was quickly pulled away a few hours later with the 8-27 hotfix:

After discussion with dxvk devs they are currently deemed problematic and need more work, and are known to currently cause stutters in games even when the feature is disabled. We will re-enable the patches when they are ready.

A fix was backported for HID devices with more than 8 axes.

Finally, Wine, DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, DXVK-NVAPI, and “latest upstream Proton bleeding edge changes” have all been updated to bleeding edge or git.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

MSI Announces Meteor Lake-Powered Handheld

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 04:57:50 +0000

The baby boom of PC gaming handhelds continue. Now MSI enters the competition. Aside from using Intel’s Meteor Lake graphics and being black in color, to me it seems pretty much like a ROG Ally clone.

Codenamed the Claw A1M, it comes with the following:

RGB sticks (they don’t seem to be hall-effect from what I’m reading though)
RGB ABXY buttons
Windows 11 Home
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
7" 1080p touchscreen at 120 Hz, 500 nits, 100% sRGB
Wi-Fi 7/Bluetooth 5.4
16 GB LPDDR5-6400
hall effect analog triggers
53 Wh battery
1 TB SSD
Thunderbolt 4 support

Rumor of the mill suggests it will come at a starting price of $700 (at least, that’s what Phoronix says). No word yet on when it will release.

Speaking of Phoronix, Michael recently did a benchmark comparing the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. In some tests, such as with GravityMark, the 155H did better than the Z1 Extreme. In other cases the Z1 Extreme outperformed the 155H.

Still, I really don’t see the Claw A1M offering much of a competitive advantage over other mainstream handhelds. The Legion Go has a much bigger screen size, detachable joycons, a FPS mode, a kickstand, and a higher resolution and refresh rate. And I can already see the ChimeraOS developers cringing, because they’re now going to have to support yet another handheld.

See more details on MSI’s website.

In other news, kernel 6.7 just declared Meteor Lake graphics as stable.

Portal Revolution Released!

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:32:31 +0000

Exciting news for you Portal fans: a new fan-made mod, known as Portal: Revolution, just released over the weekend. Initially planned for release on Friday, it had to get delayed by a day due to Valve needing to “review and accept the game for release” according to the game’s Discord. But it’s here now after eight years of development!

I’ve only played the first couple of levels. Puzzles tend to hurt my brain. Fortunately though the difficulty isn’t anywhere near as bad as, say, Portal Stories: Mel. So far it’s rated “Very Positive” on Steam with over 2k reviews. As expected, the game has played wonderfully on my Deck OLED. Solid 90 FPS at native resolution with the highest graphics settings. And guess what? There’s a native Linux version!

Have you played the game? What are your thoughts so far?

The game is available on Steam and free to download for anyone who owns Portal 2. A big thanks to the team at Second Face Software for making this mod a reality!

Kernel 6.7 Adds Support for BcacheFS, Intel Meteor Lake Graphics

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 09:58:05 +0000

Kernel 6.7 was released yesterday and with it comes initial support for the BcacheFS file system and a host of other improvements. Per Linus Torvalds in the official announcement, this is “one of the largest kernel releases we’ve ever had.”

According to the BcacheFS official website, this is a new file system that has “an emphasis on reliability and robustness and the complete set of features one would expect from a modern filesystem.” However, according to some benchmarks from Phoronix a few months ago, it would appear that in most cases BcacheFS can’t keep up with the likes of EXT4 and BTRFS. BcacheFS has been steadily improving since then, though, so perhaps it has a better chance of offering similar performance to other file systems.

Intel Meteor Lake graphics are now officially supported. According to Phoronix, these graphics drivers are “in very good shape”. So who knows; maybe that Meteor Lake-powered handheld will have a fighting chance against AMD.

There is initial acceleration support for the RTX 40-series GPUs via NVIDIA GSP support in the Nouveau driver. This also improves the support for the 20- and 30-series cards.

Some other features with kernel 6.7:

new Btrfs features – which the Steam Deck in particular will benefit from
some more work done on FUTEX2, which benefits gaming with Wine/Proton

Along with a ton of other fixes/improvements – most of which don’t seem to be related to gaming though. See the full feature list from Phoronix for more details.

ProtonUp-Qt 2.9.1 Adds Steam Shortcut Editor, Various UI Enhancements

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 08:45:26 +0000

ProtonUp-Qt – the wonderful application for easily installing the latest version of GE Proton and other Steam compatibility tools – has received an update. It’s been a hot minute since the last release, which was back in August.

Some noteworthy changes:

you can now add ProtonUp-Qt as a non-Steam shortcut via the About window
some repos got changed for DXVK-Async and NorthstarProton
installing Wine-GE now matches the “extract folder name”
GitHub/GitLab access tokens can be modified in the configuration file
“various i18n, UI and UX enhancements”

Special thanks to sonic2kk and others who have contributed to this release.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Taking a Break

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:52:49 +0000

As I did last year, I’ll be taking anywhere from a few days to a few weeks off. Now that I’ve gotten most of the articles that I’ve needed to take care of out of the way, I can finally get some rest.

Some things to look forward to when I get back:

Headbangers and Battle Shapers game reviews
Rainbow 2 Pro controller review
eXtremeRate clicky kit for Steam Deck review
my recommended themes for CSS Loader on Steam Deck
winesapOS review
how to set up HDR (Smash Ultimate) on Steam Deck – this will likely be a video tutorial

Things that I’m looking into but may not happen:

interview with Fizzi, creator of Slippi
interview with James Ramey from CodeWeavers
interview with the DeckHD team
Bazzite review
other things that – as usual – I’m likely forgetting to mention

I also wanted to take this opportunity to ask: how am I doing? I’ve noticed as of the past few weeks there hasn’t been much feedback on any of my articles.

Wishing everyone a safe winter this year!

Impressive Fan-Made Remake Re-creates Zelda: Ocarina of Time in Unreal Engine 5

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 03:26:37 +0000

For the past several years, CryZENx has been working on a remake of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Initially going with Unreal Engine 4, the game is now rebased to Unreal 5.3.2. And finally, just a few days ago, they released their project, free to download for everyone. Keep in mind though this isn’t the complete game; only a select handful of levels are available as Young Link.

And holy crap, color me impressed by the visuals. The lighting is significantly better and more life-like. Not only is Link’s model graphically better, but there’s this cool effect that gets added when he rolls on the ground. Dirt will cover his entire outfit. Textures are significantly enhanced. Looks far better than Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Here’s some footage recorded on Steam Deck:

It’s also a bit of a bug fest. You’ll see in the video that some textures are missing in the Kokiri Forest. Link’s textures are messed up. These textures are fixed on the High and Ultra graphics presets, but I had to use Medium while recording because performance took a hit. You can swing your sword during a cutscene. You can’t roll when jumping off a high cliff to prevent height damage. Locking on to an enemy will usually put the camera at an odd angle. Deku nuts don’t seem to do anything. Aiming with the slingshot is very sensitive.

Download is available over on Patreon. Good luck if you can actually download the 10 GB zip file without Dropbox or Google Drive complaining that the file has been downloaded too many times. But you better download it now while the links are live; I’ve got a feeling the big N is keeping their eyes peeled on this project.

WinesapOS 3.4.0 Adds Game Mode, Improved Compatibility with SteamOS Applications

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 20:32:26 +0000

winesapOS – the portable gaming distro that requires no installation, spearheaded by none other than the fantastic Luke Short – got a huge update with version 3.4.0.

Some highlights with this release:

Game Mode is now supported, making it a little easier to turn your handheld – such as the Legion Go – into a gaming console
Arc GPUs are now supported via the linux-t2 kernel
applications designed specifically for SteamOS should now have better compatibility
JFS and Bcachefs filesystems are now supported
you can use ZRAM as opposed to swap when setting the distro up for the first time
Intel Mac support
Wayland support (Xorg is still used by default though)
recovery console should the distro not launch LightDM properly

As far as Game Mode support, note that, as with other distros like ChimeraOS, support for devices outside of the Steam Deck are limited. NVIDIA is not supported. Adjusting the TDP or GPU clock speed limits via the QAM will likely not work.

SteamOS packages are now deprecated. Per Luke’s comment on GitHub:

It is very time consuming and complicated to keep rebasing these packages. I have been the only maintainer of it for the past 1.5 years. Most of the changes in those projects are already upstream now. Using vanilla Arch Linux or Manjaro packages has proven to be a much more stable and smoother experience for winesapOS.

And here’s a nice one: winesapOS is now available as a single download file. You no longer have to download multiple zip files to get one of the images. The downloads are now hosted on Luke’s server (or archive.org). Just download a single zip file – whether you want the minimal, performance, or secure image – extract it, then flash it.

This distro keeps getting better and better with every update. I do hope some other content creators besides myself will talk about this wonderful distro that barely gets any advertising.

See the full patch notes – as well as what to be aware of when trying winesapOS on Steam Deck – on GitHub.

Bootlegger's Broken Racing Story

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 17:04:28 +0000

The Roaring ’20s would soon become the Great Depression, beginning in late 1929 and lasting for an entire decade. The economy had suffered a huge relapse worldwide. The U.S. in particular had an unemployment rate of nearly one out of four Americans. The first couple of years of the Great Depression also saw the prohibition of the making and transportation of alcohol, known as the Prohibition era.

Bootlegger’s Racing Story takes place during this era. You play as John Hamerton. Your house is under the risk of foreclosure if you don’t give your dues to Uncle Sam. Normally, you wouldn’t take such risks as transporting alcohol to your local gas station to keep your roof afloat. It was, after all, illegal to do so during this period of time. But John – desperate to do anything to pay off his debts – is willing to take such an endeavor. Even if it means having the police on his tail. Thus, John begins his bootlegging journey.

The game is…okay. It’s kind of what I expected, considering it’s published by the same company that made 3D PrintMaster Simulator. It’s basically a racing game where you need to get to your destination while evading the police. And the police are very easy to avoid. A little red icon will show up on the mini-map. You simply need to drive around that red dot, and you won’t have the police on your tail.

Not much to say regarding the driving mechanics. It has the same type of arcade-y-ness as many other games in its genre. Though I will say various stats on it, such as speed and handling, can be upgraded by buying components. These components can be bought after making enough successful deliveries.

While the cars themselves look like they belong in the 1930s, I wouldn’t say the same regarding the attire John wears, or even the way the American landscapes look. So while the game does try to portray the 1930s aesthetic, it’s a bit confusing because they got some of it right, but others not so much. The characters’ voices also sound generic. Almost as if…they were made by AI.

Oh, and, uh, here’s something interesting…

I can’t even play this game on my Deck. At first it ran, but now, for some reason, the game just won’t launch. Verifying the files or changing Proton versions didn’t do anything. Now I can’t even give you my recommendations as far as Steam Deck settings. Did I get a bootleg copy?

Good thing I didn’t pay for this game and barely played it for more than an hour. No press kit available either. Remind me to not review a game if it comes from Midnight Games.

TL;DR

The good:

if the game actually works, the driving mechanics aren’t that bad
vehicle can be upgraded later on by buying upgrades through the in-game money that you earn

The not-so-good:

missing executable when trying to launch on Steam Deck? What?
poor voice acting
some assets in the game don’t properly reflect the 1930s aesthetic, such as the modern-looking landscapes and John’s modern attire
police can easily be avoided

Not that I would recommend buying, but Bootlegger’s Racing Story will be available on Steam tomorrow.

Review copy provided by Keymailer.

DeckHD - A Wonderful Screen Upgrade for your Steam Deck

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:17:22 +0000

A little over a month ago the folks at FX Technology Limited shipped the DeckHD. Set at the same price as the anti-glare coated Steam Deck screen over on iFixit ($100), this DIY screen upgrade multiplies the Steam Deck’s native 800p resolution by one-and-a-half times, to 1920 x 1200. It also increases the color gamut (or sRGB coverage) from 67% to 87%, making the colors – at least from my point of view – come pretty close to that of the Deck OLED. The official website also advertises that it has improved touch panel responsiveness and less flicker at 40 Hz.

While it was pretty ironic that they shipped the screens right around the same time as the Deck OLED, at first I thought it was bad timing. But then I thought about it. A stock LCD 64 GB Steam Deck currently costs $350 on Steam. You get this screen for $100, you’re still saving $100 at the end of the day versus buying the lowest-tier OLED, which is $550. You get close to the same color quality, a higher resolution, and support for overclocking on older firmware. You just won’t get the better battery life, storage size, or other QoL improvements on the OLED.

Installation

The DeckHD is a DIY screen upgrade for the Steam Deck LCD model. The black box that you get is quite nice and minimalistic. The contents of the box, aside from the screen itself, is a suction cup (for taking the old screen out), a couple of picks (to get underneath the bezels), a pair of tweezers (for disconnecting the ribbon cables), adhesive strips (for keeping the new screen in place), a Phillips screwdriver, a pointy stick (for getting rid of the guck from the old adhesion), a spudger, and a ribbon cable for connecting the DeckHD to the mobo. Foam keeps the screen intact while it ships.

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The install process is basically as follows:

(optional but recommended) discharge your Deck to 25% or below, to prevent the battery from exploding if it gets accidentally punctured
(optional) put the Deck into battery storage mode via the BIOS to prevent it from turning on when you press the Power button
remove any MicroSD cards that may be inserted to prevent it from being split when you take the back shell off
unscrew the screws to the back shell and take it off
unscrew the screws to the heat shield and take it off
disconnect the battery cable and the ribbon cable going into the motherboard
unscrew the screws holding the mobo in
gently lift the mobo up and disconnect the ribbon cable for the display
turn the Deck around, apply some heat to the bezels of the screen, then gently pry out the screen with the provided suction cup
apply adhesive strips to the edges where the screen will go
put the screen on, making sure it’s at the right angle
turn the Deck back around, lift the mobo, and connect the new display cable from the display to the mobo

Then follow these steps in reverse to put the Deck back together. You can see my installation video on YouTube.

Unlike the official setup guide, you don’t actually have to take out the SSD, heatsink, fan cable, speaker cable, Wi-Fi connectors, or the ribbon cable for the daughterboard. Taking all of these out will make it easier to access the display cable, but it’s a lot more work.

I’d say the only difficult part of the installation process is not knowing how long you should apply the heat to the bezels. I think I had to stand there for 10 minutes, constantly moving the hair dryer from bezel to bezel, before I could finally take out the screen. Guess I need some better equipment to get a better idea of how long I should apply the heat.

Flash BIOS

Since the DeckHD comes with an upgraded resolution, it won’t work out-of-the-box when you turn it on. Per the setup guide:

Since the DeckHD display is a completely custom device for the Steam Deck, we need to customise the original BIOS to include the correct display initialisation commands and to let the OS know that we’re booting up with a 1200p display instead of the default 800p. This will ensure compatibility between the computer and the display. Please rest assured, all changes made in our custom BIOS are purely on the Analogix MIPI Receiver’s configuration side, and we do not tinker with any other components that can affect the stability of the Steam Deck.

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While at first closed-source, the BIOS Maker is now available on GitHub.

For the time being, any time Valve ships out a new firmware update for the Deck, users will need to re-flash their BIOS in order to make proper use of the DeckHD. If you downgrade your firmware for overclocking purposes, you’ll need to re-run the flashing script again there too. Hopefully Valve will ship a FW update in the future that includes native support for the DeckHD.

So, you’ll have to head into Desktop Mode with the tiny part of the screen that actually works on the lower-left corner, download their flashing script, open it, enter your sudo password, and the flashing will proceed from there. It shouldn’t take long. Then the Deck will restart, and hopefully, you’ll be able to make use of the entire screen from that point forward.

From there you can adjust the Steam Deck UI scale, since the icons in Steam will be a little smaller now. I haven’t personally seen the need to do this but it’s good to know for those who may have to squint a little bit to read the text.

They actually managed to modify the splash screen when you first turn the Deck on to their own logo. It’s quite nice.

Nice Colors

As soon as I turned my Deck on with the DeckHD, even before flashing the BIOS, I noticed the color difference. And holy crap, it looks a lot better than the stock LCD screen. My phone camera just will not be able to do it justice here. It’s one of those things that you’ll have to see for yourself in person to notice the difference. Like I had mentioned before, the color quality comes close to that of my limited edition OLED model.

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Higher Resolution

While having a higher resolution is nice, the problem is, the Deck has a hard enough time as it is playing some of the more demanding titles out there. A higher resolution is only going to decrease the performance while also increasing the rate at which the battery is consumed. Macho Nacho Productions made a video not too long ago comparing the performance of Cyberpunk 2077 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. At 800p, Cyberpunk 2077 was running at a solid 30 FPS during benchmarking. At 1200p, that framerate went down to around 24-25 FPS. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was running at a solid 60 FPS at 800p, but tanked to 40-45 FPS at 1200p.

Running some of my own benchmarks with Horizon Zero Dawn, I’ve noticed the game takes an eight FPS dip while running with Ultra quality settings, going from 29 FPS at 800p on average to 21 at 1200p. Although, interestingly enough from both tests it seems like the power draw was 30 W during benchmarking.

I guess it’s a good thing that we have upscalers like FSR and NIS, to lower the in-game resolution while still reaping the benefits of a 1200p display. Overclocking definitely comes in handy as well.

One thing that is a bit of a PITA, is that you’ll have to manually set the resolution to 1920 x 1200 for each game in Steam in order to use the DeckHD’s higher resolution. I know I’m not the only one who has complained about this. Let’s just hope Valve does something about this in the future so that we can set the resolution on a global basis as opposed to per-game. (Fun fact: ChimeraOS already has this feature, unlike SteamOS.)

Less Flicker and Improved Touch Responsiveness?

Supposedly there’s less flicker on the DeckHD when you run a game at 40 Hz. The only thing I have going for this test is my video. But since the phone only captures at 30 FPS, I’m not even sure if it’s possible to notice the difference. Now that my DeckHD is installed, I don’t have a stock LCD Deck to compare with. Neither can I comment on whether the touch panel responsiveness has been improved. In my search for other DeckHD reviews, none that I’ve seen so far talk about either of these subjects. DeckHD has a video comparing the DeckHD with a stock LCD screen at 40 Hz. But since the video is from them, take the results with a grain of salt.

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I will say this though: when playing a game at 40 Hz with the DeckHD, I haven’t personally found any significant difference from my naked eye as far as flicky-ness.

Same Price, Better Features

The DeckHD is a fun DIY upgrade that costs the same as the 512 GB anti-glare screen on iFixit at $100. It still has the anti-glare coating, has better color quality, and a higher resolution. Supposedly there’s also “improved touch panel responsiveness” and “flicker-free image on all refresh rates” but I am unable to confirm these at the moment. The increased color range in of itself is worth getting the upgrade for.

Only gripes are as follows:

you need to run their flashing script every time Valve ships a FW update, or if you downgrade the FW yourself, in order to make use of the entire screen
the resolution needs to get set on a per-game basis

Valve has probably heard the complaints already. Just gonna have to wait on Valve Time and see whether or not they’ll actually do something about it.

Some might even view the increased resolution as a downside, since it’s going to have a performance hit in demanding games. I will argue though that users can just set the in-game resolution to something lower than the native res while making use of Gamescope’s FSR/NIS scaling techniques. Overclocking on the LCD models is also an option.

TL;DR

The good:

same price as 512 GB anti-glare screen on iFixit
much better color quality
higher resolution
a fun DIY upgrade

The not-so-good:

flashing script needs to get run after installation, and needs to be re-run any time Valve ships a FW update
resolution needs to get set on a per-game basis in the game’s properties menu in Steam

You can buy the DeckHD on the official website for $100.

Review sample sent courtesy of the folks at DeckHD.

My Top Games of 2023

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 13:30:40 +0000

I’m basically re-hashing what everyone else has said about 2023 regarding the video game industry. It sucked, in a way, because there were many layoffs (cough Embracer cough). Both automation with AI and corrupt business leaders have led to the destruction of many careers. Who says you need to hire a voice actor anymore? Just have an AI do it almost just as efficiently, with faster results and more money saved. Who says you need to make your own character models? Just rip off some assets from a game engine store and give them credit in the Credits menu.

That being said, with a little bit of sifting, there were some great gems found this year, that you know for a fact wasn’t partially or entirely driven by AI. Here’s my list below. Unlike last year, this list is actually in order, ranging from least favorite to most favorite.

5. Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Turbocharged

This game builds upon its predecessor with new game modes, new cars, new environments, new mechanics, and plenty of customizable race track parts for building your own track. The story mode is a bit better too now that you actually have a purpose for getting on the track.

Only drawback for some is that the game uses EAC. Still works just fine on Deck though, and has cross-platform multiplayer.

4. Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech

While this is likely a game you never heard of, it’s honestly an excellent way of learning a new language – in this case, Japanese. The in-game RPG-style battles will put you against the clock trying to figure out what the transation of the on-screen Hiragana is. All the while, the story mode will progressively teach you the grammar basics.

If only I had some more time to keep playing this game. Once I actually get some more reviews out of the way, I’m planning on going back to this game and finish up the story and jot a few more notes down. Who knows, by that point I might actually be able to get a basic grasp what Masahiro Sakurai says on his YouTube channel without having to rely on the subtitles.

3. Witchfire

This first-person shooter is a combination of a roguelite, Souls-like, and some other sub-genres mashed in. The gunplay is pretty addicting. And you will get incentivized to keep playing, because if you escape the map without getting a game over, or defeat the boss for that level, you’ll earn Witchfire. That Witchfire will allow you to upgrade your stats, unlock more weapons, spells, etc. and make your subsequent runs a little easier.

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There is a big update that was initially planned to be released in November, but kept getting pushed back. Now, according to the developers’ latest blog post, it should be out “early next year. Hopefully, very early.” Can’t wait for it!

Just be aware that the game is currently in Early Access and is exclusive to the EGS.

2. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2

Oh yes…the closest thing we have to Smash Brothers. It is far, far better than the original, with added mechanics that would be too long to list here. It really does feel like a Smash game now. Without having to set up an emulator or having the ninjas at Nintendo hovering over your shoulder, threatening to DMCA the hell out of you just because you’re playing their game outside of their own hardware. Cross-platform multiplayer, a story mode, voiceovers…the list just goes on.

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A recent Proton Experimental update “fixed periodic frame rate drops.” So, hopefully Steam Deck users won’t get a headache playing the game now when changing the graphics settings!

1. Metroid Prime Remastered

Heh…was anyone surprised that I listed this as number one?

I remember talking the heck out of this game when it first came out earlier this year. And I wouldn’t shut up about it for like a week or two after that. It probably irked some of my readers…shrugs. So, needless to say, I don’t think I need to re-iterate everything I’ve said about the game.

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Can’t wait for Metroid Prime 4! (…if it even comes out in my lifetime lol)

What were your picks this year? Let me know in the comments!

Play Super Smash Bros. on Steam Deck/Linux? I Could Use Your Help with Some Testing

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 04:32:25 +0000

Over the past several days I have been huddled up on my laptop working away at a Swiss army knife script that does all things Smash Bros.. Though it’s primarily intended to work with the Steam Deck, just about any Linux distro should also work – except for the part of overclocking the GCC adapter, since that part is a little less distro-agnostic.

So what does the script do? It allows you to download, update, and play the following Smash mods:

Smash 64 Remix (Smash 64 with more characters and stages)
Slippi (Melee with online multiplayer)
Project+ (continuation of Project M, turning Brawl into a more competitive game)
Project M EX Remix (Project+ with an expanded roster of characters and stages)
HewDraw Remix (HDR - Smash Ultimate with competitive mechanics)

You can also view the patch notes for a few of the mods, get download links for Animelee and Diet Melee, and launch the netplay version of the associated emulator. If you have a GameCube controller adapter on hand you can also easily install/uninstall the overclock module.

There will be a few inconveniences. For instance, if you want to download PMEX Remix, you’ll have to manually download the mod for now. If you’re looking to try out HDR you’ll need to not only have a dump of Smash Ultimate but also your save file, update file, and any associated DLC and install these on Ryujinx.

To get started, head over to the GitHub page. The README will provide instructions on what you need to do. Obviously, you’re going to need to supply your own legally-dumped ROMs/ISOs and put them in the appropriate place in order for the script to work.

Give it a shot and let me know how it goes. If you have any suggestions or bug reports, be sure to file an issue on the tracker. I’ll have a video tutorial soon. Have fun!

Easily Install Super Mario 64 (PC Port) and Ship of Harkinian on Steam Deck with These Scripts

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 20:15:39 +0000

Over the past several days I’ve actually had some fun writing up some bash scripts. In addition to making it very easy to overclock the GameCube controller adapter, I’ve also made it easy to install the PC port of Super Mario 64 as well as Ship of Harkinian on Deck.

Super Mario 64 PC Port (ROM required)

Let’s start with the Super Mario 64 script. In addition to the original PC port, you can download several forks that enhance the overall gameplay. For example, with SM64Plus, there’s an improved camera, more responsive controls, more movesets, 60 FPS support, as well as the ability to continue a level after getting a star. Render96 will essentially turn the game into an HD remake, improving the detail on Mario’s model as well as the in-game textures.

To get the script running on Deck, go to the GitHub page in Desktop Mode with your web browser. Just like you would with Decky Loader or CryoUtilities, just right-click the download link, click “Save link as…” then save it to your desktop. Double-click the file to download and run the script.

Forks can also be seamlessly updated and uninstalled, and you can adjust the various options that come with each one with a text editor. Eventually I want to make an easy-to-use GUI to edit the config options, but for now, the script will just open the configuration file with your default text editor. Save files can be backed up, and high-resolution textures can also be downloaded and installed.

There is an option with each fork to add said fork as a non-Steam shortcut, but this is a bit buggy right now. You may have to just manually add the executable to Steam in the meantime.

All you need to get the script running is to have your legally-dumped ROM inside of your home folder. Name it to baserom.us.z64 (or change the “us” part to “jp” or “eu” if the ROM is from a different region). The script will look for this file. If it can’t detect the ROM, the script will exit.

Please note that, since each fork has to be compiled manually, you’ll need to install the appropriate developer tools. Just head into the Options menu and select “DEPENDENCIES” to install the Arch dependencies for Steam Deck. You’ll need to enter your sudo password for this. After this option is run, you shouldn’t need to run it again, until Valve ships a new update to SteamOS.

Ship of Harkinian (ROM required)

The Ship of Harkinian Updater works similarly to the Super Mario 64 script. Go to the GitHub page, right-click the download link, and save the link to your desktop.

SoH can be downloaded, updated, and uninstalled. The changelog can also be viewed with your web browser, and you can visit my ROM dumping guide if you need to get that set up. Steam Deck-specific mods can be downloaded, such as the Steam Deck UI and boot logo, and you can also download high-res textures or the textures from the 3DS version.

Put your legally-dumped ROM inside of ~/Applications/ship-of-harkinian/ and name it to zelda64.z64. If the script can’t find this, it will prompt you to select it with a file browser.

Give each script a try and tell me what you think!

CTRL + ALT + REPEAT: A Difficult Platformer

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 18:30:10 +0000

CTRL + ALT + REPEAT. A tough-as-nails platformer where you play as a generic robot who has no purpose. Make your way to the end of the level, jumping your way from platform to platform, sliding down slopes, riding across walls, and flying through rings, without touching the water or getting hit by a sweeper.

If you like difficult, this game is for you. Even the first level, where you simply jump from pillar to pillar, is pretty hard. While the controls are solid, the pillars themselves are very small, which don’t give the robot a whole lot of leeway when crossing from one gap to another. Jumps and tilts of the control stick have to be calculated very precisely. You can sprint, jump, grapple, glide, and grind on rails to make your way to the end of the stage. Some of these abilities will be unlocked later on – but beware, the difficulty will continue to rise.

Not going to lie, even though there’s 64 levels across four worlds, I didn’t make it past the fourth or fifth one. As the Steam store page describes, this game is going to require “patience and focus to complete,” which I evidently don’t have.

If you noticed through the screenshots that the assets look pretty generic, well, you’re right. A quick look at the credits will tell you most of the in-game assets were straight up made by someone other than the developer. It probably explains why the game comes at an absurdly cheap $5 price tag.

To go along with that, pretty much the only sound effects that play in-game are the background music, and if the robot touches the water. The robot doesn’t make any sounds as he’s running, jumping, or landing on the ground. Maybe that’s a good thing for some, but to me, it gives the robot less personality. You don’t even know why the game uses a robot as a character in the first place, or what his purpose is in the game other than to make it to the end of the stage.

I guess the one good thing that comes out of this game is that there’s a native Linux version. Even then, though, there are a couple of issues. For one, the resolution is set to 1920 x 1080 by default when you’re playing on Steam Deck. And sometimes when you’re adjusting the resolution in-game, sometimes the “Apply” button won’t appear, unless you adjust the graphics preset as well. Gamepad navigation across the menus can be iffy at times as well, forcing you to use the touchscreen to enter menus.

Weirdly enough today, when trying to launch the game on Deck, the background music will play, but nothing shows up on screen. After a few seconds, the Deck just shuts itself off. Verifying the files did nothing. Forcing the game to use Proton 8.0-4 did nothing either. I played the game on my Legion Go, and thankfully the game works on that device. But I have absolutely no idea why the game just causes the Deck to crash. It was working fine when I first got the game.

Overall I can’t recommend this game. While the controls are great, and the difficulty can be considered a plus for some, the game doesn’t really use any original assets and is pretty generic. Native Linux support is great, but for the strangest reason, the game will cause the Steam Deck to shut itself off. There’s no “personality” to the robot; there’s no sound effects for him. Pretty much the only sound effect that plays outside of the BGM is when he touches the water. The resolution is set to 1920 x 1080 by default on Deck, and gamepad navigation across the menus is hit-or-miss.

TL;DR

The good:

superfluous controls
depending on how you like difficult platformers, I guess that can be considered a perk
native Linux support

The not-so-good:

many ripped off assets
barely any sound effects played during gameplay
resolution set to 1920 x 1080 on Deck, iffy gamepad navigation across menus
the game at first worked on my Deck, but now, playing the game just causes the Deck to shut down

CTRL + ALT + REPEAT is on Steam for $5 and is available natively on Linux.

Review key provided by Keymailer.

STUFFED: Fight Your Nightmares

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 18:51:34 +0000

Note: this game is currently in Early Access at the time of review.

In the rich, colorful, procedurally-generated world of STUFFED, you play as a teddy bear set in first-person perspective. Loaded with popcorn grenades and weapons that are made of commonly-owned household items, your job is to protect your owner – a little girl whose dream you’re in while she’s sleeping. Waves of enemies will appear through a portal in the house – gnomes, ducks with sharp teeth, miniature robots, you name it. Using the weapons at your disposal, eliminate these enemies before they reach Ellie’s door.

It’s actually a really interesting concept. The world around you is huge, since your teddy bear is small. The idea of using exploding popcorn as a grenade, or a slingshot that uses a can of Coke for ammo, is a fresh take than what you typically see in a first-person shooter. No blood spilt. No creepy zombies. No constant NPC chatter. And the gameplay itself is very smooth. You might have to adjust the stick sensitivity a little lower than what it is by default if you’re playing with a gamepad or playing on the Deck, but other than that, the animations and mechanics are spot-on.

After a wave of enemies are defeated, you’ll have a short amount of time to re-stock your ammo, repair the door, or unlock more areas of the house, using the “score” system. Defeating enemies earn you this score, and a certain amount of score has to be spent in order to do any sort of upgrades. There’s also a station that you can visit where you can unlock perks, such as allowing your bear to sprint indefinitely, or have the ability to revive itself when it’s down.

Another cool feature is you can customize the way your teddy bear looks. If you want it to look like a panda, or as a leopard, or as a tiger, so be it. From there you can equip outfits on your character – from an astronaut, to a pirate, to a knight, and everything in-between. The 13 different weapons in the game can also have their skins customized. Changing the appearance of your bear or weapon costs a certain amount of coins, which you’ll earn after finishing a match.

One of the things that’s really holding this game back is the lack of players. Even though the game can be played solo, it’s meant more so for online multiplayer, set as PvE. I’ve tried searching for an online lobby during my playthroughs, and I haven’t been able to find a single soul to play with. Steam Charts report that currently there are zero players playing the game as of the time of writing this, and there’s only been an average of 1.4 players as of the past month. Finding a couple of people to play this game with would not only make the match more fun, but it would also make it easier to fight through the waves.

And that’s where my next critique comes in. Playing this game solo, I haven’t been able to get past the 6th or 7th horde. The first couple of waves are easy, but then these huge monsters come in the subsequent waves. Defeating these monsters takes quite a bit of time, and it doesn’t help that you’re trying to fend off the other enemies that are attacking either you or Ellie’s door. This often doesn’t give you enough time to eradicate the huge monster, which will repeatedly attack Ellie’s door until the “door health” gauge depletes. It would be nice if your teddy bear got a few buffs while playing solo to make it easier to play through, or at least have a CPU-controlled teddy bear that fights along with you.

Weirdly enough there are times when I get into a match and there’s no sound. The music still plays in the background, but no sound can be heard when firing your weapon or when your opponent attacks. Going back to the main menu and then starting another round usually fixes this.

There’s also this bug where, sometimes I can’t attack the huge monster that attacks Ellie’s door. I can drain the monster’s health to about half, but any shots after that, it barely takes any damage. Not sure why that happens.

Steam Deck Compatibility

The game starts off with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 by default. You can lower this down to 1280 x 720 in the Video section of the Options menu, then set the scaling mode to “Stretch” if you want to get rid of the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.

You can set the graphics preset to “Ultra” and generally get around 60 FPS, without the TDP or GPU clock speed limits engaged.

For 45 FPS/90 Hz, try setting the TDP limit to 10 W, and the GPU clock speed to 700 MHz. For 30 FPS/90 Hz, try 6 W and 500 MHz.

This is just by going through the main menu itself, which has your teddy bear and a few enemies chasing after it. In-game you may have to adjust these values a bit depending on how many enemies there are on screen (I wouldn’t be able to test these values without getting hit, heh).

Needs More Players

STUFFED is a really great concept. I like the rich, vibrant world of Ellie’s house. The gameplay mechanics themselves are pretty decent. Teddy bear and weapon customization is a nice plus that makes your bear more personal to you. The biggest hurdle this game needs to overcome is to have more players. You’re definitely going to want a buddy or two to hook up with; the game can be pretty difficult to play solo after half-a-dozen or so waves are cleared. Either that or have the developers make a CPU-controlled character to fight along with you, or somehow make it easier to fend off the subsequent waves.

There’s also the occasional issue where no sound effects are played in-game, or some enemies won’t take any damage after being hit multiple times.

TL;DR

The good:

procedurally-generated maps that are colorful and vibrant
unique weapon concepts and enemies
teddy bear and weapon skin customization
great if you’re looking for a less mature-themed zombies-style PvE game

The not-so-good:

this game needs more players
can be difficult if you’re playing solo
sometimes there’s no sound played when entering a game, or some enemies may not take damage at all for some reason

STUFFED is available on Steam for $13.

Review key provided by Keymailer.

Give Your Legion Go the Steam Deck-Like Experience - Without Using Windows

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 19:30:20 +0000

The Legion Go hasn’t even been out for two months and, I’ve been impressed how quickly the community has been able to get the enormous, Switch-like handheld to work on operating systems outside of Windows.

I’d say we’re about 90% there as far as feature-parity with the Steam Deck. A little over a month ago I had written down some quick thoughts on the state of Linux support for the Legion Go.. At that time, the Guide or QAM menus couldn’t be accessed without using a workaround. The TDP couldn’t be adjusted through the software itself. Gyro wasn’t working OOTB. The RGBs surrounding the sticks couldn’t be turned off. And sometimes the screen flickered erratically, depending on what you were doing.

I’m happy to report those issues have been fixed now. Aarron Lee made a couple of Decky plugins that allow you to adjust the TDP, while also giving the user the ability to turn the RGBs on or off. The RGBs can even be customized with a brightness slider, and can have this “breathing” effect that changes to different colors, if you so choose. The RGB plugin also allows you to remap the back buttons, and enable/disable the trackpad. Interestingly enough you can also remap the gyro to the left or right control stick. Be aware that, if you’re using the TDP plugin and set the TDP anything higher than 35 W, the performance will tank.

As far as the Guide and QAM controls, those have been fixed via HandyGCCS (handheld game console controller support). This software is already baked into ChimeraOS if you’ve updated to the latest unstable version. Guide can be accessed by holding Legion L + B, and the QAM can be accessed with Legion L + A. Suspending the device no longer requires going to Steam’s menu; you can simply press the Power button now and the device should properly suspend.

As far as gyro support, that’s been a little iffy, at least on my end. There’s this “hack” that you can apply that makes the Legion Go emulate as a DualSense Edge controller. You can install this with ROGueENEMY. This will supposedly allow the gyro to work. It also switches Legion L and Legion R to Start and Select respectively, and changes the bottom left buttons as Guide and QAM. The back buttons are also supported. While the button glyphs in Steam will change into the PS5 icons, you can change this back to Xbox-style via a CSS Loader theme.

There’s an enhanced version of ROGueENEMY called Handheld Daemon (HHD). Problem is, neither this or ROGueENEMY has been working on my end to get the gyro working. I’m not sure if there are any additional steps required to activate the gyro after installation. I’m not seeing “Gyro Calibration” under Steam -> Settings -> Controller -> Calibration & Advanced Settings.

Finally, there’s steam-patch, although this has been pretty buggy for most users. Essentially installing this will do the following:

fixes the TDP and GPU clock speed modifiers from the QAM
replaces the Xbox controller glyphs in Steam to more closely resemble the Steam Deck controller glyphs, for a more consistent look

For the time being, I don’t recommend installing this, as I’ve had a few issues using it. Additionally it will likely conflict with ROGueENEMY/HHD.

Putting the Tools All Together

Since there are quite a few community-made projects made for the Legion Go, I decided to polish up my bash scriping skills and made a tool that brings all the projects together. With this, you can now easily install all of the aforementioned tools without having to open up a bunch of tabs in your web browser with a different GitHub page on each one. Be aware that, for the time being, this script was primarily made with ChimeraOS in mind. It might theoretically work on other Arch-based distros, but I haven’t tested.

The script allows you to install, update, or uninstall the following:

Decky Loader
SimpleDeckyTDP plugin
LegionGoRemapper plugin
ROGueENEMY
HHD
steam-patch
Legion Go theme for CSS Loader
PS5-to-Xbox controller glyphs theme for CSS Loader

Literally all you have to do to run the script is by going to Desktop Mode and run the following command in a terminal:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linuxgamingcentral/legion-go-tools-for-linux/main/lego_chimera.sh | sh

I also have a .desktop file there on the GitHub repo if you want to save that for easy access to the program, but GNOME doesn’t work the same with .desktop files as it does with KDE on Steam Deck. If you try opening the .desktop file on ChimeraOS, it will just open up the file with a text editor as opposed to actually running the command.

Type your sudo password when prompted, and you should be presented with a list of tools to install or remove:

Remaining Issues

ChimeraOS is pretty much usable as a daily driver for the Legion Go (so long as you’re using the unstable build). The community has also used Nobara Project and Bazzite and have reported similar experiences, although these distros come with their own set of issues.

Some caveats to be aware of, for now:

the battery indictor still doesn’t work – Steam will report it as always being full even if that’s not the case
you can’t push the framerate beyond 72 FPS unless you turn off Unified Frame Limit Management and disable the framerate limit in the QAM
only 60 Hz and 144 Hz refresh rate options work. Setting the refresh rate to anything else will make the screen garbled. You will likely need to use an external monitor to change the refresh rate back
gyro can be hit-or-miss. You might be able to get it to work after installing ROGueENEMY or HHD, you might not

Keeping Up-to-Date with Legion Go Linux Support

While I will try to keep readers up-to-date as far as Linux support on the Legion Go, the best place for that is by going to Aarron Lee’s GitHub page. This document is constantly updated with the latest information as far as:

what works
what’s available for workarounds
issues and known bugs
resources – such as available tools to enhance the Legion Go experience
videos
guides and small fixes

Thanks go to Aarron Lee, corando98, Antheas, frazse, and everyone else who has contributed to making Linux on the Legion Go a better experience.

Learning Japanese...the Fun Way

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 18:09:50 +0000

I look up to the “giants” that formed the video game industry. Shiguru Miyamoto. Eiji Aonuma. Koji Kondo. Masahiro Sakurai. Satoru Iwata. Yoshio Sakamoto. Yuji Naka. Hironobu Sakaguchi. Some of the most brilliant, creative minds that I’ve ever seen, as far as their ideas and the concepts that they have created.

Problem is, there is a bit of a language barrier between me and them. The Japanese – they’ve got games that never made it to America, and therefore, were never translated into English. Gems that I never really got to “taste”, since I never understood Japanese. That is, until now.

Learning a new language, especially if it’s your first one, isn’t an easy task. And for the longest time I wanted to learn Japanese, but I just didn’t know how. Then, I discovered Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech. And わあ (wow), I’ve been impressed as far as how this game has showed me the basic ins and outs of grammar and short phrases.

You play as protagonist Kai. (かいさん) A meteor strike hits his area. Though he survives the attack, he begins having hallucinations of ghosts, called shinrei (しんれい). Someone (or maybe something?) beckons him to the Forbidden Forest. But as he does so, he’s going to have to fight his demons. Thus, the game is presented as a top-down RPG with pixelated graphics.

Mechanics

Walk around a little bit, then fight the shinrei. You can adjust how frequent the battles occur according to your tastes. Here’s how the battle system works: a word is presented on the screen. It could be a Japanese symbol (known as Hiragana). Or it could be an English word. Your job is to translate that word with your keyboard. So, for example, if “すぐ” is presented on the screen, your job would be to translate that Hiragana into the English meaning. In this case, “すぐ” means “soon”, “at once”, or “immediately” in English (depending on the context), so you would type one of these words in.

Or you might be asked to type the Hiragana in Roumaji. Roumaji uses the English alphabet to describe Japanese sounds. So “すぐ” would be “sugu” (pronounced “suh-goo”) in Roumaji. On the other hand, if the English word “soon” is presented on screen, your job would be to translate that word into Roumaji, which, again in this case would be “sugu”.

If you translated the word correctly, you’ll attack the monster. Attack the monster enough times, you’ll eventually defeat them, earning you XP. But be careful: if you take too long to guess, the monster will eventually drain Kai’s HP until he’s defeated. Nothing really happens, however, when a battle is lost. You just won’t get the XP. More HP can be earned by finding chests or necklaces scattered across the map, or by getting a perfect score on a quiz from one of the various NPCs you’ll come across.

The more XP Kai gets, the more Hiragana he’ll learn. The game will tell you the Roumaji of the Hiragana, the pronunciation (the game is backed by Japanese voice actors), and, if there is an English translation, what the meaning of the word is.

I’m probably making your head spin as I’m explaining this. No worries though. The game will progressively teach you these things the further you get into the game.

The point is, fighting sequences like this make learning Japanese a much more fun, immersive experience. Exactly how the description on the Steam store page puts it:

Our frustration with other Japanese learning games is that while they teach hiragana and words, they rarely (if ever) use these learnings in actual conversations. Almost everything is out of context. A random character, word, or sentence here or there. On the other hand, trying to learn Japanese by watching anime or reading manga is overwhelming (for a beginner).

We try to strike a balance between these two worlds. This game strives for “Mild Immersion.” We want to immerse you in Japanese as much as possible, but only beginner Japanese. We want you to feel confident that any Japanese that comes your way is something you’ve been taught and are capable of understanding at a basic level.

If you’re on Steam Deck, the game actually has a built-in profile that allows you to play the game easily this way. Instead of typing the word, you’ll be presented a multiple-choice selection when the word is presented on screen. Just press a direction on the D-pad towards the translation and you’ll immediately be told whether you got the translation right or wrong. However, I do recommend playing this game with a keyboard, as it does make the gameplay a little more challenging by not giving you multiple-choice answers.

The game would have been even more immersive if there was microphone detection and you could say the word through the mic and have the game pick it up. But understandably there would be a lot of complications to adding something like that. It’s still pretty good as is.

Story

The story, according to the Steam store page, is anywhere from 16-20 hours. I’ve invested close to 18 hours so far and I haven’t even finished the game yet. I’ve only learned half of the Hiragana, and half of the words. So, the great thing about this, is the expanded story length allows you to learn at a gradual pace, without making your head hurt. You couldn’t possibly get a basic grasp of a new language in just a 10-hour story. The lengthy story sequences are actually すごい (sugoi - “amazing”). And I can confidentially say, without spoiling the story, that there’s no “padding” in this game: you’re actually going to be interested the entire time you’re playing it, all the while learning new phrases and grammar skills.

I’ve even taken a few hand-written notes, just to jog my memory and keep the Hiragana fresh in my head:

Learning Japanese requires more than just learning Hiragana, the Roumaji equivalent, and the English translation. You’ll also have to learn how to properly address someone, be it in a formal or casual setting, and whether a particular word is said by a woman or a man. The game will teach you this during the story. So while battles will teach you new words, the NPCs in the story will teach you the grammar basics. The further you get into the game, the more you’ll learn about these basics. Fortunately there are some areas in the game where you can re-visit these topics, and repeat the lesson on them as often as you need, because chances are, you’re going to forget about them later on.

Steam Deck Compatibility

As I had mentioned earlier, there is a built-in Steam Deck profile that you can use. This will allow you to play the game without having to use a keyboard: during battle, you can select a word via the D-pad, rather than having to type it in. One problem that I do have though, is with the choices you’re given. Sometimes, two options of the same word will appear on-screen, making it even easier to guess the right translation. Not sure why that is. Regardless, typing the translation via a keyboard, or even Steam’s built-in OSK, will make the game more challenging – which I recommend if you really want to memorize the Hiragana and their respective English translations without having a couple of answers already at your disposal.

As far as performance, I mean…do I really need to explain this? It’s a RPG made with RPGMaker. Pixelated. It runs out of the box. You can tone the TDP limit and GPU clock speed all the way down to 4 W and 200 MHz respectively and still get a solid 60 FPS. The only thing I would suggest, is if you don’t like the black bars on the left and right side of the screen, you can set the Scaling Mode to “Stretch” to fill in the entire screen. There’s no in-game video configuration options.

Great Way to Learn Japanese

Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech is a great game to get into if you’re looking to learn Japanese from scratch. It will give you a basic idea of how Japanese grammar works, along with some of the most common words used in the Japanese language. The RPG-style system makes learning more fun, and there’s an interesting story to boot.

Right now, I’m not going to be able to listen to an episode of One-Punch Man and understand what the characters are saying. And no, I’m probably not going to be able to play Segagaga and fully understand the in-game dialogue. But, I’m hoping by the time I finish the game, and have a few more notes written down, I can get a basic idea of the conversations that take place.

TL;DR

The good:

a fun way of learning Japanese via the RPG system
decent story length without padding
gives you a basic grasp of the Japanese language while also teaching you grammar and rules of formality
adjustable rate at which battles occur allows you to learn at your own pace
Steam Deck profile allows you to play on the go without needing a keyboard

The not-so-good:

sometimes two of the same words can appear in the multiple-choice dialog during battles, making it even easier to guess the right translation

Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech just got out of early access on Steam as of today. There’s a free demo if you want to check it out. Otherwise, the full game is $20.

Review key provided by Keymailer.

Booze Masters: Freezing Moonshine

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 16:31:20 +0000

Normally, when I get an email from a game dev asking me to review their game, I decline the offer. Frankly, a lot of the offers I get aren’t my kind of thing. But somehow, Booze Masters: Freezing Moonshine caught my attention. There was just something odd enough about it that pulled me in. Seeing as the developer of this game, Asmodev, is also responsible for Priest Simulator, I kind of expected this.

You play as streamer Quella. Somehow, she ends up at the La Sorpresa Motel. It’s a cold winter night, and for the most part, the motel is abandoned, albeit for a few quirky residents. The motel is owned by the cold-hearted, narcissistic snowman Zero Karoten. He’ll allow you to stay – so long as you make the world’s coldest vodka for him.

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What’s for dinner? Snow. Want your car to get hijacked? Want the 5G tower to get destroyed so you don’t have Internet? Or your motel room get wrecked? That’s some of the things you’ll experience in this story. Along the way you’ll have to work with Doctor Professor, who, while a genius at heart, is a bit of a drunk. He’ll make some gadgets to assist with your ingredient-hunting to make different vodka recipes. You’ll also work with Jerry, who has made his own distillery unit right in the motel. He’ll teach you the ropes as far as how to make moonshine.

Farming Crops in the Winter

Set in first-person, your goal is to explore the area surrounding the motel and plant crops. Yup, even in the dead middle of winter, the strange properties of the fertile soil allow the crops to grow at an alarmingly fast rate. Dig up corn, apples, strawberries, oats, barley, you name it – and plant them in the appropriate locations on the map. After a few seconds, the crop becomes fertile, and you can harvest its contents. You’ll create quite a number of farms in the game, each in a separate location, and Doctor Professor will come up with Time Travel so you can easily get to and from the motel.

Make Moonshine

After you’ve harvested a number of crops, you can make moonshine back at the motel. Select a recipe from the whiteboard, and it will tell you how many ingredients you need to make whatever spirit you wish to make. Crack open the grinder, put the ingredients in, close it, and crank the handle to start the crushing process. Grab the bottle, put it in the fermenter station, add yeast and whatever else the whiteboard tells you to add, and start the fermenter process. Keep the needle in the right temperature zone – the needle will go down, and you can bring it back up by holding the right trigger. It will take a few times to get used to how this works.

Next, put the bottle in the distillation unit. Watch the distillation process. Sometimes there will be a leak somewhere along the pipeline. Just walk over to it and smack it with your hammer to seal the leak. Finally, when the distillation process is done, grab the bottle, put it in the appropriate machine, line your glass bottles up, and fill them up with your cold-off-the-press hard liquor. If you screw up along the way, or put the wrong ingredients in, you’ll have to drain the liquid out and start over.

Congrats. You now have a basic knowledge of how making moonshine works.

Drinking Has Its Benefits

But making vodka isn’t just for the benefit of the motel owner. Once Quella crafts a new recipe and she drinks it, she will be able to explore more parts of the map. No, I’m not kidding you – some parts of the map will be semi-invisible, such as a cliff. After Quella drinks the appropriate recipe, this “invisible” cliff will now be solid, and she can step onto it. This will allow her to reach areas that she previously couldn’t. Such is the benefit of drinking the world’s coldest vodka, I suppose.

Scattered along the map are these little electronic gadgets called “doodads” and “mega doodads”. Collecting enough doodads will allow Quella to upgrade her “farm” by unlocking more recipes, and new crops will be able to be harvested. Mega doodads, although much rarer, will allow her to upgrade the distillery. For example, she can upgrade the grinder, allowing her to crank more crushed content at a faster rate, or upgrade the distillation unit, making leaks occur less often.

Overall, the progression of the game is pretty smooth. It’s actually fun to play because you’re always incentivised to upgrade the farm, increase the rate at which crops grow, and find out more regarding the mysterious lore of the quirky inhabitants of the La Sorpresa. Later on you’ll be able to make use of drones, which will make farming even easier and faster for you.

Flaws

There are some QoL improvements that could have been made to make the experience a little better. Take, for example, the in-game cutscenes. None of the characters have any facial expressions that change as they talk. It’s just this neutral face that doesn’t change at all. Having the characters’ facial expressions adjust depending on their mood would have made the cutscenes more surreal.

While I don’t want to go accusing the developers of using AI for the character voiceovers, that’s almost kind of what their voices sound like. Their tone doesn’t change at all, mostly sounding flat during conversations. For example, when Jerry spots a leak in the distillation unit, he should exclaim, “Seal the leak!” and not “Seal the leak.” as if leaks were nothing new to him. Don’t get me wrong; I did get an occasional chuckle here and there with the strange personality of the characters and their quirky sense of humor. But the audience would get even more laughs had the voice-acting been given a little more “oomph”.

You’re gonna be crafting recipes quite often with the distillery. Jerry will show you the ropes and explain what you need to do. However, he won’t shut up after doing the same process for the dozenth time.

“Put the plants in the crusher, close the lid, and turn the crank to start grinding.”

“Transfer the contents of the crusher to the barrel, or keep cranking.”

“Lift the barrel to proceed to the next step.”

“Place the barrel on the fermentation station.”

“Add yeast and the remaining ingredients, then start the fermenter seeder.”

“Monitor the optimal temperature of the process.” “Too hot!” “Too cold!”

“Lift the barrel.”

“Place the barrel into the distillation unit.”

“Watch the distillation process. Beware of leaks.”

“Seal the leak.” (Without the emphasis.)

“Lift the barrel.”

“Place the barrel in the bottling machine.”

“Put the empty bottles in the bottling machine, and pour moonshine into them.”

“Congratulations. You’ve managed to distill moonshine.” (Again, without emphasis.)

Lift the barrel. I feel like I could make a meme out of that phrase now. I also just made your life more annoying now, because I personally have reminded you Jerry’s spiel, word-for-word, by heart. Maybe we should change “lift the barrel” to “Do a barrel roll!”

Quella is a streamer. During the first few hours of gameplay, she’ll show her audience what she’s doing. As the game progresses, however, she becomes more distant to those who are watching her stream, and they become less important to her. She doesn’t talk to her audience much, if at all. Why she does this, the game doesn’t explain, but the gradual process of paying less and less attention to her stream, even though more and more people watch the further the game progresses, just takes the “streaming” aspect of this game away.

No Steam cloud support. Come on, people. Gamers are likely to have more than one gaming device lying around, and it’s a royal pain having to manually transfer saves, or use the Decky Cloud Save plugin, when you’re playing from one device to another.

Want to adjust the music volume? Too bad. You can’t. That Christmas-y background music that plays later on in the game? You can’t shut that off. Turning the “Music” all the way down to 0 in the in-game options doesn’t do anything.

Finally, there’s an issue I came across later on in the game. I won’t get into details about it to avoid spoilers, but I feel like I’ve basically come across a softlock. There’s a picture that I’m supposed to take, but I don’t know specifically where to take it. The game does a terrible job trying to point where I need to take the photo. I’ve taken countless photos and nothing happened. If I don’t get the right angle, I literally can’t progress in the game. I’ve tried emailing the developer about this a few days ago, and haven’t heard back. I guess I’m just going to have to wait for someone to upload a complete walkthrough of the game so I can finally figure out where I need to take the photo.

Steam Deck Compatibility

The game is surprisingly demanding. First, you’re going to want to turn the graphics preset down to Medium, then set the resolution to 1024 x 576, or around there. Without adjusting the TDP limit or GPU clock speed, the game hovers around 45-60 FPS, depending on where Quella is in the game and what she’s doing.

For a 40 FPS profile, you can set the TDP limit to 7-8 W, and the max GPU clock speed to 600-700 MHz.

Not That Bad of a Game

Outside of the emotionless, toneless expressions of the characters, Booze Masters: Freezing Moonshine isn’t that bad of a game. There’s lots of plants to crop, a lot of upgrades to make the farming and distillation process easier, many recipes to craft, and a story that is at least somewhat interesting to learn more about. Even though there’s no inflection in the characters’ voices, the characters themselves and what they say are quirky enough to give you at most a light laugh or two.

If the dev gets back to me or I watch a walkthrough where I can finally get through the “softlock”, I would still be interested enough to play the game through its entirety. I can ignore that “lift the barrel” Jerry constantly says while I make moonshine and learn more about the quirky characters.

TL;DR

The good:

quirky characters with quirky personalities, that will occasionally make you laugh
plenty to do in the game, plenty of exploring, plenty to upgrade, plenty of recipes to craft; the game keeps pulling you in for more
if it’s considered a perk, I guess you’ll get a basic grasp of how the making of moonshine works

The not-so-good:

monotonous voice acting
characters have absolutely no facial expressions during cutscenes
no Steam cloud support
music volume can’t be adjusted
Jerry’s repetitive spiel on how to make moonshine should be toned down
you may experience a softlock later on in the game, and the game won’t really help you out

Booze Masters: Freezing Moonshine is available on Steam, GOG, and EGS for $15. On Steam and GOG the game is on sale for a week for 15% off.

Review key provided by PressEngine.

Ship of Harkinian: Steam Deck Guide

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 18:07:11 +0000

This guide has been updated on 1/19/2024 to add a video tutorial, as well as a one-line trick to extract the ROM from the TGC file. No need to set up Bottles!

Zelda: Ocarina of Time. A true 90s classic. Now running natively on PC! More specifically, on Linux and Steam Deck! This reverse-engineered project is called Ship of Harkinian (SoH).

So the question arises: why play OoT on native hardware as opposed to using emulation? There’s quite a number of reasons, and here are some:

go beyond the 20 FPS that the original game provided, with support for framerates that are as high as your monitor’s refresh rate, giving you a buttery-smooth gameplay experience
support for higher resolutions
adjustable difficulty options, including how much damage you take or enemies that move at a faster pace
quality-of-life improvements, such as faster text scrolling through long dialogues, faster walking speed, and not having to sit through Link playing a song on his ocarina. You no longer need to wait five minutes for King Zora to slide across his throne!
a plethora of enhancements, from the color of Link’s tunic, gyroscopic aiming when using the slingshot/bow, and a camera that allows you to move it around freely like any modern 3D game
built-in randomizer, shuffling the in-game items and enemies, giving you a fresh gameplay experience
mod support, including the changing of Link’s model, the model of his sword, and the support of textures from the 3DS remake

If, on the other hand, you want as authentic of the N64 experience as possible, SoH gives you those options too. You can run the game at 20 FPS, decrease the resolution to make the graphics more pixelated, and whatever else you want to do to closely resemble 90s hardware.

Here’s how to get SoH running on Steam Deck.

Requirements

In addition to a softmodded Wii or Wii U, you will need a legal copy of the European/Australian version of Zelda: Collector’s Edition for the GameCube. You can also use a PAL N64 cartridge, but dumping that will be outside the scope of this tutorial. The reason why you need the PAL version, according to the SoH FAQ, is as follows:

The decomp started on the debug version because debug statements helped in identifying functionality during the decomp process. The only debug version available was PAL. In adding support for other versions to SoH, other PAL versions were much easier because the underlying functionality (especially with language) was the same. NTSC will take a bit more to get working the first time because of that and other differences, but afterward should be easier to add support for multiple NTSC versions.

If you don’t happen to have a copy on hand, well, good luck trying to buy one at eBay without breaking the bank. Needless to say: I do NOT condone piracy of the disc!

A keyboard and mouse connected to your Deck via a USB-C dock would also help.

Dumping the ROM and Extracting the TGC File

Dumping this game is going to be a bit of a process. You can’t just dump it from your Wii or Wii U and call it a day. It’s going to require using the Dolphin emulator to extract a specific file from the ISO.

Using your softmodded Wii, insert the disc into the disc drive. Follow the instructions over on Wii Guide to dump your disc. An easy way to dump your disc is by using CleanRip via the Homebrew channel.

Transfer the ISO to your Steam Deck. In my case I put it in ~/Emulation/roms/gamecube/. On your Steam Deck, go to Desktop Mode. If you don’t already have the Dolphin emulator installed, install it with EmuDeck, or install it via the terminal with:

flatpak install flathub org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu

Open Dolphin under the “Games” category on the Start menu. Set your ROM filepath if you haven’t already. Right-click Zelda: Collector’s Edition from the ROM list, and go to Properties. Go to the “Filesystem” tab all the way on the right. Expand the category for “tgc” in the file browser. Right-click zelda_PAL_093003.tgc and select “Extract file…”

Extract the TGC file anywhere.

Extract the ROM out of the TGC File

Previously I thought users had to use a hex editor – in this case a hex editor that’s only available on Windows. Turns out we actually don’t need to go through that hassle. Just open up a terminal where your TGC file is located, and run this:

dd bs=1 skip=476487616 count=32M if=zelda_PAL_093003.tgc of=zelda_oot.z64

Give it about five minutes. There should now be a zelda_oot.z64 ROM file that should be around 33-34 MB in size. Done!

Thanks to lukasm1293 from YouTube for the help!

(Optional) Validate Dumped ROM

To verify the extracted file, head over to the SoH Compatibility Checker. Click “Load a ROM” and select the .z64 file you just saved. If the verification process worked then the page should tell you what version of the game you dumped.

Get SoH

Use my script to easily download and update SoH on Deck.

If you would rather download it manually, go to the Releases section of their GitHub page. Under the “Assets” category, there are two different AppImages to choose from: Compatibility, and Performance. For this guide, we’ll be going with the Performance build. Download the zip file and extract it. There should now be a soh.appimage file.

Right-click the AppImage, go to Properties, and under the “Permissions” tab, check “Is executable”, then click “OK”.

If everything went well, and your .z64 file is in the same directory as the AppImage, SoH should extract some files, then run the game!

Great! You can now close the game. Right-click the AppImage again, and select “Add to Steam” to add it as a non-Steam shortcut.

(Optional) Get Artwork

Let’s get rid of that ugly gray icon for SoH in Game Mode. Get the SteamGridDB plugin with Decky Loader. Go to the non-Steam shortcut, press Start, and select Properties…

Change the name of “soh.appimage” to “Ship of Harkinian”.

Close out of the Properties window. With SoH selected in your library, press Start again, and select “Change Artwork…”

Add some artwork to the game. So now you can go from something boring:

To something a little more interesting:

Run SoH in Game Mode

Some things I’d recommend doing while running SoH in Game Mode, as far as controls:

enable the back grip buttons. Set one of them to F1 so you can access the menu, and another to F11 so you can enter/exit fullscreen mode
enable gyro and set it as joystick (SoH doesn’t seem to pick up the gyro as mouse at the moment)
set the right trackpad as mouse, with right trackpad click set as left mouse click
set the left trackpad as a scroll wheel, so you can scroll through the various menus that SoH provides
enable free camera in Settings -> Controller -> Additional Controller Options. Note that you will need to re-configure the C buttons and set them to a button instead of right-stick tilt, and assign right-stick to, well, right-stick

For some battery savings, you can set the TDP limit and GPU clock frequency all the way down to 3 W and 200 MHz respectively. Even at 60 FPS it still runs great. You can fine-tune the battery even further with PowerTools by setting the CPU frequency at 1000 MHz, disabling SMT, and downclocking the memory.

After that, here are some in-game recommendations:

set MSAA to 8 and match the FPS to the refresh rate of the screen via the Settings -> Graphics tab
optionally check off “Disable idle camera re-centering” to prevent the camera from going behind Link whenever he faces the camera
set the preset to “Enhanced” under the Enhancements tab for QoL improvements, such as faster block pushing and item pickup messages being skipped
set some difficulty options, such as increased damage taken and/or hyper enemies, for a more challenging experience
mute low HP alarm, use the minimal UI, disable Navi call audio (finally, no more “Hey! What’s up! Listen!”)
disable LOD to use high-poly models at a distance
disable draw distance
disable the music that plays when an enemy is close
enable walk speed modifiers in Settings -> Controller -> Additional Controller Options -> Miscellaneous Controls. Set the first modifier to 200% for faster walking. Check the box to toggle the modifier instead of holding, and check “Don’t affect jump distance/velocity”. Now under Port 1 set the first modifier to any of the available buttons on the Deck (I used Select)

(Optional) Further Enhance the Experience with Mods

There are a couple of mods over on GameBanana. Mods will allow you to change Link’s model (want to play as Pomni? That’s here), upgrade the textures to what the 3DS remake uses, adjust the HUD to use different icons, and other things. Here are some mods that I recommend:

Djipsi’s 3DS Experience
Melee Link/Ganon/Zelda
Steam Deck UI
OS Specific Intro Models - there’s actually a Steam Deck icon here, for when you first start the game

After a mod is downloaded, simply extract it into the mods folder where SoH is located. Restart the game, and the mods should automatically load. Note that you may need to check off “Use Alternate Assets” in Enhancements -> Graphics -> Mods in order to see alternate textures take effect. Also keep in mind you can’t use multiple model swaps over the same character. For instance, you can’t use the Melee Link mod in conjunction with the 3DS texture mod, unless you delete the OTR file for Link’s model swap.

Enjoy Ocarina of Time on the go!

Overclock Your Steam Deck For Increased Performance

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 19:13:28 +0000

So, you decided to keep your LCD Steam Deck. Well good. We gonna overclock this son of a biscuit so we can squeeze a couple of extra FPS in during our gameplay sessions. Keep in mind that, for the time being, the Steam Deck OLED is NOT overclockable, and even though the LCD Deck is still capable, the firmware on the device will need to get downgraded first.

We’ll be going over how to overclock the CPU, GPU, and TDP. Technically it’s possible to overclock the RAM, depending on the memory manufacturer, but I will NOT be covering that in this guide. I almost ended up bricking my own Deck trying to OC it to 6400 MT/s; the only way I could recover the device was by resetting the CMOS.

For your convenience, since this guide is quite lengthy, I’ve added a table of contents, so you can quickly jump to the section of your choosing.

FAQ

Guide

Is Overclocking Dangerous?

It can be, if you set the numbers too high. If the Deck becomes too hot (think 90+ degrees C), it will do one of two things:

Throttle the temperature down temporarily. Both the CPU and GPU will go to their lowest speed until the APU cools down, causing the game to run like a slideshow.
If the Deck doesn’t throttle the temperature, it will shut off to protect itself from overheating.

In my case, I was able to overclock to the following numbers:

CPU: 4 GHz
GPU: 2 GHz
TDP: 25 W

While also being able to undervolt the CPU, GPU, and SoC to -40mV.

Note that 25 W is a bit on the extreme side; I only set this number since I have the JSAUX cooling fan on. A safer number would be 20-21 W.

Is Overclocking Worth It?

Depends on the game you’re playing. In general I’m seeing about a 10% performance boost across the board. So, for example, if a game is running at 60 FPS on stock settings, it will jump to 65-66 FPS with overclocking applied. Some heavy-hitting AAA titles will certainly benefit from the overclock.

That being said, overclocking is going to drain the battery very quickly – as little as an hour in some of my tests. If your numbers are too high you’re also going to experience the Deck shutting itself off because it gets too hot, or throttling the temperatures to keep itself cool, causing the game to run very slowly for a minute or two.

Whether you want to put up with that hassle for a few extra FPS is going to be up to you. You’re going to need a lot of patience playing around with numbers while constantly rebooting the Deck to test for new values.

Prerequisites

Some things you’ll need to get started:

USB-C dock
USB keyboard
USB flash drive, formatted as FAT32, with Smokeless_UMAF installed on it
(recommended) some cooling solutions, be it thermal paste, Steam Deck backplate with aluminum heat dissipation, a cooling fan, etc.

On the software side:

Decky-Loader with PowerTools installed
SteamOS firmware downgraded to 116 or below with Steam Deck BIOS Manager
(recommended) 4 GB UMA frame buffer size, with recommended settings from CryoUtilities (16 GB swap with swappiness of 1)

We’ll be going over these steps along the way, so don’t worry about applying these changes now.

Keep your Deck Cool

As a prerequisite, I highly recommend looking for some cooling solutions prior to starting the overclock process. Some things that you can do:

open your Deck up, remove the existing thermal paste on the APU, and upgrade it to a different paste that can sustain higher temperatures
change the backplate to something that uses a different thermal profile. The JSAUX backplates, for example, uses aluminum to keep the APU temps down, while also providing a cutout for the fan exhaust. I’ve noticed the APU is an entire 10 degrees C cooler with the JSAUX backplate on
add some cooling fans. You could try the JSAUX cooling fan (it’s designed to work with their ModCase accessory but you can also use the fan itself without the ModCase). This can lower APU temps – at least during my testing – by 14 degrees C. Alternatively you can just get a docking station that has a cooling fan attached

Get PowerTools

If you don’t already have Decky-Loader, install it. Installation is incredibly simple; just go to the GitHub page in Desktop Mode, click the Download button, and run their installation script.

Go back to Game Mode. A plugin icon should appear in the Quick Access Menu. Select it, go to the shopping icon on the top-right, and install PowerTools from the plugin store. PowerTools will allow us to override the TDP limit once we’ve set some values in Smokeless.

Downgrade the Firmware

If you have recently updated SteamOS on your LCD Deck, chances are it’s running firmware 119. To have overclocking options available to us, we first need to downgrade the firmware to 116 or below. An easy way to downgrade is by using Steam Deck BIOS Manager from 10 Minute Steam Deck Gamer.

Go to Desktop Mode. Open a terminal. Clone the repo and run the program:

git clone https://github.com/ryanrudolfoba/SteamDeck-BIOS-Manager.git
cd SteamDeck-BIOS-Manager
chmod +x steamdeck-BIOS-manager.sh
./steamdeck-BIOS-manager.sh

Enter sudo password when prompted. Select DOWNLOAD from the menu and click/tap OK. This will download all of the available firmware, including 116. Next, select FLASH from the menu, and select F7A0116_sign.fd from the list of downloaded FW. You’ll be asked if you want to backup your current BIOS. Please do so.

Your Deck will restart and install the older firmware. Note that if you have the DeckHD installed, you will need to re-run their flashing script to use the entire screen again.

After the FW has been flashed, go back into Desktop Mode. Re-run the Steam Deck BIOS Manager. This time, select BLOCK to prevent SteamOS from upgrading the FW. Then, select SMOKELESS so we can have access to the overclocking options in Smokeless_UMAF.

Boot into Smokeless

Plug in a USB flash drive to a computer (or your Steam Deck via a USB-C dock). Format it as FAT32. Go to the Smokeless_UMAF GitHub page, download the UniversalAMDFormBrowser under the Download section, extract the files to the flash drive.

Connect a USB-C dock to your Steam Deck. Connect a wired keyboard along with the flash drive. While the Deck is off, hold the Volume- button while turning the device on. This will bring you to the boot menu. Select your flash drive from the list.

You should now be in Smokeless, and if everything went well, there should be two options under Device Manager: AMD PBS and AMD CBS. We can ignore AMD PBS; we won’t be using that in this guide. Note that the display is sideways because the Steam Deck’s display is set up to run in portrait mode by default.

Please be aware that, at least during my testing, if you hold down the Up or Down arrow keys for too long, the device will freeze for some odd reason. Just hold the Power button to turn it off, then try booting back into the flash drive.

Undervolt for Increased Battery Life

The first thing we’ll want to do while in Smokeless, is undervolt the Deck if we can. This will not only keep the Deck running at a cooler temperature while providing the same performance, but also marginally increase the battery life. Per the explaination from CryoByte33:

Chip manufacturers have to provide an amount of voltage that every chip is guaranteed to run with, but some can use far less power to do the same amount of work. Undervolting is the process of providing those chips with less voltage. Your Deck will typically run a lot cooler, which will keep the fan quieter. Undervolting can help maintain higher speeds for longer, which can improve performance. It usually even improves the battery life of the Deck!

Using your keyboard in Smokeless, go to Device Manager -> AMD CBS -> SMU debug options -> SMU feature config limits. Change SVI3 voltage control to Manual. New entries should now be displayed:

VDDCR_VDD - CPU
VDDCR_SOC - SoC
VDDCR_GFX - GPU

Change VDDCR_VDD voltage offset sign to Negative. Set the VDDCR_VDD voltage offset to 10. This will undervolt the CPU by 10 mV. Repeat this process with VDDCR_SOC and VDDCR_GFX. The CPU, GPU, and SoC should now all be undervolted by 10 mV. Now keep pressing Escape on the keyboard to back out of the menus. When Smokeless asks if you want to save your settings, press Y. Go back to the main menu, select Continue, and you should be good to go.

Run a few games. See what happens. If you don’t get any visual artifacting, or don’t see games randomly crashing, you’re safe. Now you can keep going into Smokeless and decreasing the CPU, SoC, and GPU voltage by 10 mV. Save settings, keep testing, and once you get random crashing, that’s going to be your limit.

In my case, I have been able to safely undervolt the CPU, SoC, and GPU to -40 mV.

Disable Updated Fan Control

While your Steam Deck is on, go to Settings -> System -> Go all the way to the bottom. Disable the updated fan control toggle. The new fan curve prioritizes sound over thermal performance and can cause overheating if enabled. You’re going to have a louder fan, but you’ve got headphones, right?

Now go into Desktop Mode. Download and install CryoUtilities. Apply CryoByte33’s recommended settings, applying 16 GB of swap space, and a swap tendency of 1.

Turn the Deck off. Access the BIOS by holding Volume+ while turning the device on. Go to Setup Utility -> Advanced. Set power control to manual. Ensure both the “Fast PPT” and “Slow PPT” limits are set to 15000. We can’t overclock the TDP limit in Smokeless otherwise.

While you’re here, I strongly recommend setting the UMA frame buffer size to 4 GB if you haven’t already. This will improve graphics performance in games.

Press the Back button to save your changes.

Overclock the TDP

Turn the Deck off again. Boot into Smokeless. With your keyboard, navigate to Device Manager -> AMD CBS -> SMU Common Options. Set TDP control and PPT control to manual. Set your desired max TDP into the TDP, Fast PPT Limit, and Slow PPT Limit fields, followed by three zeroes. For example, if you wanted to set the max TDP to 18 W, you would type in 18000 for all three fields.

I recommend starting off with 18 W, then gradually increasing this value if you’re feeling confident and your Deck doesn’t throttle itself or shut itself off during gameplay. In my case I’ve been able to push 25 W, but frankly this is a bit overkill, and the only reason why I’ve been able to get away with it is because of the backplate I’m using along with the JSAUX cooling fan. A safer option would be 20-21 W.

Keep pressing Escape until you’re asked to save your changes. Press Y. Exit Smokeless.

Run a game. Open the QAM -> Decky -> PowerTools. Go down to PowerPlay Limits and toggle it on. Set both the Fast and Slow PPT limit to what you had set in Smokeless. So if you set the TDP to 18 W in Smokeless, you would also set this in PowerTools. Closely observe the APU temperature (you can set the performance overlay to 4 so you can see these numbers). If either the CPU or GPU gets over 90 degrees C, that’s when you need to lower the TDP limit so the Deck doesn’t throttle itself. On the other hand, if the temperatures are in a relatively safe range, you can gradually increase the TDP limit in Smokeless until you start seeing erratic behavior in-game.

Do NOT use Steam’s built-in TDP limiter in the QAM. If you toggle this on, it will override your TDP limit settings in PowerTools.

Overclock CPU and GPU

Once you’ve played around with the TDP limit and found a good number, we can also overclock both the CPU and GPU.

Boot back into Smokeless -> Device Manager -> AMD CBS -> SMU Debug Options -> SMU Feature Config Limits. Go down to “CclkFmaxOverride Control” and set it to manual. Set the max CPU frequency, in megahertz, next to the “CclkFmaxOverride” option. By default, the max frequency set on the Deck is 3500 MHz (3.5 GHz). Set it to your desired value. Setting this to “3600” would be a good starting point. I wouldn’t go past 4000 MHz.

While you’re here, you can also increase the GPU clock frequency. By default, the Deck’s GPU is set to 1600 MHz (1.6 GHz). Set “GfxclkFmaxOverride Control” to manual, then enter the desired frequency next to “GfxclkFmaxOverride”. A good starting point would be 1700 MHz.

Keep pressing Escape on the keyboard until Smokeless asks if you want to save your changes. As usual, press Y to save settings, then select “Continue” to boot into SteamOS.

Testing, Testing, and Some More Testing

Keep running some games. Keep an eye on the APU’s temperature. If at some point the Deck throttles the temperature, or shuts itself off, that’s when you know you pushed the numbers a little too far. Keep adjusting the TDP limit, CPU and GPU frequencies in Smokeless, until you’ve found a decent number where you can get more than 10 minutes of gameplay without any interruptions. Make sure you also toggle on “PowerPlay Limits” in PowerTools so you can take advantage of the TDP limit you set in Smokeless.

As a reminder, I’ve been able to set my numbers as follows. Keep in mind you may not be able to reach these numbers yourself, depending on how well you scored with the “silicon lottery” and what you have available for cooling solutions:

TDP limit: 25 W
CPU frequency: 4000 MHz (4 GHz)
GPU frequency: 2000 MHz (2 GHz)
CPU, GPU, and SoC undervolted to -40 mV

Nice. After about a couple dozen reboots, you should be good to go. Enjoy your overclocked machine! Note that since the battery drains more quickly with the overclock, it might be worth docking the Deck and using it as a console (I’ve noticed the Deck is less likely to shut itself off when the charger is plugged in as well).

What to Do if the Deck Doesn’t Turn On

This shouldn’t normally happen, so long as you play it safe with your numbers, but in the event the Deck doesn’t turn on, you can reset the CMOS to restore the factory BIOS settings, which should allow the Deck to turn back on.

While the device is off, hold the Volume- button and the QAM button, then press the Power button. Keep holding the buttons down until a symbol appears on the screen. This will revert all your changes to the BIOS, TDP limit, CPU/GPU freq, etc.

Thanks to CryoByte33 for the original guide.

Proton Experimental Fixes Multiplayer in Dirt Rally, Adds HDR Option to Mass Effect and Injustice 2 on Deck OLED

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 17:38:42 +0000

Quite a number of fixes in today’s Proton Experimental update. HDR is now available “on capable hardware,” including the Steam Deck OLED, for Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Injustice 2. A few regressions from Proton 8 were fixed, including the cursor desync when toggling fullscreen in The Binding of Isaac, and improved load times for Final Fantasy XIII-2. More memory leaks have been fixed with the FFXIV launcher. Multiplayer in Dirt Rally has been fixed.

Some fixes for other titles include Melty Blood: Type Lumina multiplayer, The Last of Us: Part I, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, GTA V R.E.A.L. mod, and Injustice 2.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis Released on Steam, Has Some Issues

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 17:32:20 +0000

So, Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis just landed on Steam as of yesterday. The first thing you’re probably going to want to do, is if you have a MicroSD card, install the game on that. When I got through the first mission the game complained that I didn’t have enough storage to download the rest of the in-game content when I had it installed on the internal SSD. The game only needs 6.5 GB to download, and since my SSD has 300+ GB of space left, I have plenty of storage room left. One user on the Steam forums suggested moving the game install to a MicroSD card to get rid of the issue. Oddly enough, this worked – just keep in mind there’s no Steam cloud support, so you’ll want to backup your save file and put it onto the MicroSD card to pick up where you left off.

Just as a reminder, to transfer a game from the SSD to the MicroSD card and vice versa, go to Settings -> Storage -> Select game -> Press Y -> Transfer the game to the selected storage medium.

Judging by the fact that it’s a mobile port, it runs pretty great on Steam Deck, as expected, performance-wise. Ultra settings, 1280 x 720 resolution, 120 Hz in most areas except for cutscenes, and still only consuming about 10 W of battery (6 W TDP with 500 MHz GPU clock frequency). As far as controls, however, there’s no built-in controller support, so you’ll have to stick to the default keyboard profile that Steam Input uses, and even then, you’re probably going to want to adjust some of the controls to different keyboard actions (like Return on the A button, for example). The touch screen, of course, is always an option too. You can see my template below as an example – X, Y, and B do magic attacks, left shoulder activates defense mode, right shoulder activates Limit Break, etc.

See the game on Steam. It’s free-to-play.

Steam Deck OLED Is the Battery King

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 13:38:55 +0000

YouTuber Hi-Tech Lo-Life recently put the Steam Deck OLED to the test as far as battery life with a handful of other devices. Out of itself, the Deck LCD, the Legion Go, and the ROG Ally, it’s clear that the OLED was the winner across the board, with the exception of one test.

The first test he ran was putting an anime video on loop with VLC media player at 1080p resolution at 60 Hz. All devices were set to 1280 x 800 resolution, with the exception of the ROG Ally, which was set to 1280 x 720. Both Decks were set to 3 W, the Legion Go at 5 W, and the ROG Ally at 7 W (the lowest they could go). Results were as follows:

Deck LCD: 4 hours 38 minutes
ROG Ally: 4 hours 48 minutes
Legion Go: 5 hours 28 minutes
Deck OLED: 8 hours 41 minutes!

One caveat I might add here, is both the ROG Ally and Legion Go are running Windows, and their minimum TDP is higher than that of the Decks. Still, the OLED runs the video almost twice as long as the LCD model!

The next test was running a visual novel, with the same settings as the video:

Deck LCD: 5 hours 2 minutes
ROG Ally: 3 hours 26 minutes
Legion Go: 5 hours 45 minutes
Deck OLED: 12 hours 24 minutes

More realistically, though, we’re primarily going to be playing games on these devices. So here were the results with Celeste:

Deck LCD: 4 hours 40 minutes
ROG Ally: 3 hours 25 minutes
Legion Go: 3 hours 50 minutes
Deck OLED: 10 hours 46 minutes

Deathsmiles I and II:

Deck LCD: 3 hours 11 minutes
ROG Ally: 3 hours 4 minutes
Legion Go: 4 hours 5 minutes
Deck OLED: 6 hours 31 minutes

How about AAA gaming? Here’s the results for Dark Souls III with the “autodetect” graphics preset, 10 W TDP, 60 FPS/Hz:

Deck LCD: 1 hour 37 minutes
ROG Ally: 2 hours 2 minutes
Legion Go: 3 hours 35 minutes
Deck OLED: 3 hours 7 minutes

What? The Legion Go did better in this case? Here’s what HTLL has to say:

I noticed an anomaly between the Legion Go – despite being set to 10 watt TDP they didn’t run so hot; they were running at around 20 FPS, which I wouldn’t say is unplayable, but it’s certainly no 30 FPS. Especially given the Steam Deck and the OLED were doing better at 10 watts, reaching a very respectable 40+ FPS, which could be the reason why the Legion Go defeated the Steam Deck OLED. But I’m not entirely sure; I feel like I’m missing a piece to this puzzle.

Now, the Cyberpunk 2077 test, with all devices set to 15 W TDP, 60 Hz, using the “Steam Deck” preset:

Deck LCD: 1 hour 12 minutes
ROG Ally: 1 hour 19 minutes
Legion Go: 1 hour 48 minutes
Deck OLED: 2 hours 25 minutes

Dang. So, I guess if you want the longest-lasting battery out of all of the mainstream PC gaming handhelds out there, the Deck OLED is the way to go.

Thanks to HTLL for running these tests!

PSA: Your Steam Deck OLED May Have Audio Crackling Issues on the Headphone Jack

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 22:11:54 +0000

Some users have reported that using wired headphones on the Steam Deck OLED can result in audio crackling. I have not personally encountered this issue on my own unit (maybe the audio PCB is designed a little differently on the Limited Edition).

There’s one of two things that you can do if this is happening on your end. One is by simply getting in touch with Steam Support so you can RMA the device. Another is by applying some DIY tricks if you’d rather not wait for United Radio to fix it. Note that the latter is only a workaround and not a solution – you may experience Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues after doing this.

If you want to fix it yourself, you’ll have to take the back plate off. Towards the top-right is the audio PCB. There are two screws holding the PCB in. Disconnect the battery cable. Unscrew the screws. Use insulated/shrink tape on the PCB where the screw holes are. Put the screws back in. The tape will keep the screws from touching the ground of the PCB.

Image credit: u/Chiny_1990

See the post from L0rdEnki on GitHub or one of the threads on r/SteamDeck for more info.

Thanks to sonic2kk for bringing this to my attention!

3D PrintMaster Simulator: More Like 3D PrintFailure Simulator

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 19:41:04 +0000

Don’t have a 3D printer but want to learn how 3D printing works? Well, I’m sorry to tell you, 3D PrintMaster Simulator isn’t the way to go. Unfortunately this one is a bit of a tough sell for me.

There are quite a number of issues that you’ll run into in just the first 30 minutes of gameplay. First, there’s no Steam cloud support. So, if you play between your old Steam Deck and your OLED, you’re not going to be able to easily transfer your career progress from one device to another.

Second, speaking of the Steam Deck, the game defaults to a keyboard and mouse profile. You’ll have to go into Steam Input and change to the “Gamepad With Joystick Trackpad” layout if you want to actually play this game the right way.

While I was taking notes with this game on Deck, the background music just went awry. Typing on the OSK will cause the BGM to go into this weird frenzy that plays this annoying sound. It won’t stop until you stop typing. And speaking of the BGM, while it has this nice lo-fi beat to it, the track will sometimes randomly stop playing abruptly and move on to the next track. Not sure why that is, but the abruption interrupts the “flow” of the game, so to speak.

The default stick sensitivity is way too low. If you try moving the camera around with the right thumbstick, the camera moves at a snail’s pace. You’ll have to go to the in-game options menu and put the Stick Sensitivity slider all the way up.

Even after setting the Steam Input layout to “Gamepad With Joystick Trackpad”, the in-game button icons are incorrect. For instance, the game tells you to press R1 to hold and drag an item. On Steam Deck, that’s actually R2. Another in-game action might tell you to hold R1 to unmount an object. Holding R1 down does nothing, and so far, all of the other buttons/triggers I’ve tried doesn’t do anything either.

Trying to assemble your first 3D printer? Good luck. It isn’t trivial. You buy the components with your laptop, the packages come to your door, you unpack them, and try to sort of mash the parts together. You start with the platform – the base stand, and from there, you put the rest of the parts together. The X rotor, the Z rotor, the motherboard, the cover for the motherboard, the frame, you get the idea. You drag the parts together with the right trigger (not the right shoulder button as the game tells you) and move it into the yellow highlighted area. The game won’t tell you this, but you might want to turn the printer upside down so you can install the motherboard and the cover for it. Screw some screws in with your screwdriver, hex in some hex bolts, wrench some other parts, and viola, your 3D printer is assembled, without the game doing too much to guide you in the process. Just drop your tools down to the floor when you’re done, because you can’t properly put them away until you drop them.

If you can get past all of these issues, then I suppose the game isn’t that bad. You’re in your office, and you keep track of customer’s orders via email. You’ll get new emails on a regular basis, with customers asking you to print X object in X color. Accept the offer, make sure you get the right PLA color, and basically just print the thing out in a matter of seconds. Put it in a box, and when the customer arrives at your door, hand it to them. All the while the game does a pretty poor job at trying to explain all of this to you. You don’t even get to design the CAD files or anything along those lines. Just accept the offer, get it printed out, package it, then deliver the package. Get paid a certain amount by the customer, allowing you to repair your 3D printer or upgrade the components.

Thing is, I tried contacting the developer ahead of time with all of these issues that I had, and even after sending a follow-up message, they never got back to me. So, that’s on them for leaving this game in the poor state that it’s in. Not to mention the fact that they don’t even have a press kit as of the time of writing this. They could have spent a few days tidying up some of these problems so that it would leave a better first impressions. But as it stands, I don’t recommend getting this game, at least for now. I do hope in time these issues will get addressed.

Aside from the issues, the game actually runs pretty good on Deck at native 1280 x 800 resolution on High settings. I’m getting around 80 FPS on average. If you want to cap it to 40 FPS, you can set the TDP limit to 6 W and the GPU clock frequency to 400 Hz.

TL;DR

The good:

gives you some basic concepts as far as how 3D printing works
chill lo-fi music makes it relaxing to play

The not-so-good:

no Steam cloud support
on Deck, game defaults to mouse and keyboard profile
BGM can abruptly end and move on to the next track, or it can sound annoying when typing on the OSK
default stick sensitivity for the camera movement is too slow
in-game button icons are incorrect
you’re basically on your own trying to figure out how to put a 3D printer together, as well as how the game works in general

3D PrintMaster Simulator is available on Steam for $10.

Review key provided by Keymailer.

Hold Up, Don't Get Rid of Your Steam Deck LCD (Just Yet)

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 18:20:24 +0000

You just upgraded to the Steam Deck OLED. No judgment passed if you have sold your older LCD model already, but if you still have it, it actually has some use cases that the OLED currently does not have. Or, if you wish to have a portable handleld PC without breaking the bank, the Steam Deck LCD is still great bang for your buck at $350, while still retaining similar performance as the OLED.

Overclocked Console

The Steam Deck OLED is not overclockable (not yet, anyway). After downgrading the firmware to 116 or below, LCD users can overclock the TDP, CPU, and GPU. (The RAM can also be overclocked depending on the RAM manufacturer, but this is something I don’t recommend doing.) Overclocking the Deck to 25 W, 4 GHz CPU, and 2 GHz GPU can result in a 10% FPS boost. Just make sure you have some kind of cooling solution beforehand so the Deck doesn’t throttle the temperature or shut itself off.

Worried about battery life draining in just an hour? Well, that’s where docking the Deck comes in. Plug it into an external monitor with a charger plugged in, and battery is no longer a worry. Using an external monitor also means you don’t have to put up with the bland colors of the LCD screen.

Soon, I will have an overclocking guide. In the meantime, you can refer to CryoByte33’s guide – just make sure you downgrade the firmware first to 116 or below.

Upgrade the Resolution and Color

DeckHD is a wonderful screen upgrade. This not only boosts the color gamut from 67% to 87%, but also increases the resolution to 1920 x 1200. It also has less flicker at 40 Hz and improved touch panel responsiveness. The color quality comes pretty darn close to the Deck OLED. This is where overclocking will come in handy, for handling the higher resolution.

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A 64 GB Deck LCD for $350, plus $100 for the DeckHD, you’re still saving $100 as opposed to buying the lowest tier Deck OLED, which is $550.

Better Modding Compatibility

Mod your Deck LCD knowing that all of the accessories you buy for it are compatible with said device. While most accessories are backwards-compatible with the OLED, others are not. The JSAUX RGB backplate, for instance, won’t install out-of-the-box on the OLED; the RGB PCB has to be removed since it won’t fit. You also won’t be able to install third-party joysticks like the GuliKit hall-effect sticks, since you’ll lose functionality of the shoulder buttons.

Got any other reasons why you should keep the LCD Deck? Or are my arguments here not good enough? Let me know in the comments!

Top Things To Do After Getting a Steam Deck OLED

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 18:30:35 +0000

That shiny new handheld just arrived at your door? Great! While the Steam Deck OLED provides a great out-of-the-box experience, there are several things that you can do to further enhance the experience.

Increase UMA Frame Buffer Size for Better Performance

By default, the UMA (unified memory architecture) frame buffer size is 1 GB. By increasing it to 4 GB, this can “help improve graphics performance in some games.” It can also prevent “missing and/or low-resolution textures.”

You’ll need to access the BIOS for this. To do so, hold the Volume+ button while turning the Deck on. Let go once you hear the chime. Go to “Setup Utility,” then go to “Advanced”. Select “UMA frame buffer size” and set it to 4 GB. Press the Back button to save changes and reboot.

Increase Swap Size and Change Swappiness Value

By default, SteamOS uses 1 GB swap, and a value of 100 for swappiness. This means 1) if the Deck runs out of RAM, it only has 1 GB of swap to use, and 2) with a swappiness value of 100, the Deck will always prefer the swap over the physical RAM, giving the device a performance bottleneck since again, it only has 1 GB of swap space.

When we increase the swap file size, and change the swappiness value, we can potentially get FPS boosts depending on the game being played.

An easy way of changing the swap size and tendancy is by using CryoUtilities.

Get Plugins

Decky Loader allows you to use plugins directly in Game Mode. Things that you can do with plugins include:

install the latest version of GE-Proton (and some other compatibility tools) with Wine Cellar
record the screen with Decky Recorder
customize the Steam theme and sound effects with CSS/Audio Loader
use PowerTools for fine-tuned battery control
easily see Proton ratings for each game with ProtonDB Badges
customize the startup and suspend videos with Animation Changer
easily see how long a game takes to beat with HLTB for Deck
suspend the Deck when it’s on low battery with AutoSuspend
automatically update Flatpaks on your system with AutoFlatpaks
add art to non-Steam games (or customize art for existing Steam games) with SteamGridDB
get connection type, battery percent, and charging status for external gamepads with Controller Tools

Emulation Made Easy with EmuDeck

Emulating your legally backed-up games, from the NES all the way to the Switch, has been made incredibly easy with EmuDeck. This tool will install all the emulators of your choosing and automatically configure them for best use with the Steam Deck. After placing your ROMs into the appropriate folder, you can then run Steam ROM Manager through EmuDeck to add artwork for them and add them as non-Steam games. When the game is launched, the appropriate emulator will be used, providing a convenient out-of-the-box experience.

Here Be Dragons

The following suggestions can be potentially harmful to your device if you don’t know what you’re doing. Please be careful!

Undervolt for More Battery Life

Undervolting the Deck can result in some small battery life gains. Access the BIOS by holding down the Volume+ button while turning the Deck on. Go to Setup Utility -> Advanced. At the bottom of the menu is CPU, GPU, and SoC voltage offset options. Gradually decrease these values -10mV at a time. Press the Back button to save your changes and restart. Run a couple of games, see what happens. If you don’t see any erratic crashing or visual artifacts, then you can keep decreasing these values until you start seeing them. In my case, I have my Deck undervolted to -30mV on the CPU, GPU, and SoC.

Convert the Filesystem to BTRFS for Disk Space Savings

SteamOS uses ext4 by default on the /home/ partition. We can convert this to btrfs to save some space on the drive. On my LCD Deck, I saved over 50 GB of space, with all of my games and settings intact.

Overclock the display to 120 Hz for smoother gameplay

Some models of the Steam Deck OLED ship with a BOE display. BOE displays are capable of going past the 90 Hz refresh rate. Keep in mind the gamma will shift past 109 Hz, so the colors won’t be as vibrant.

If, on the other hand, your display is from Samsung, I do NOT recommend overclocking the refresh rate, as some users have reported the display becomes garbled at 100 Hz and above.

That’s all! Do you have any other suggestions? Let me know in the comments!

Overclock Your GameCube Controller Adapter on Steam Deck

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 18:27:16 +0000

I finally figured it out. There is a now relatively straightforward way of overclocking your GameCube controller adapter on Steam Deck/Steam Deck OLED with SteamOS 3.5.7. Here’s how to do it. I highly recommend connecting a keyboard and mouse. (Note that I have not tested this on the SteamOS “Preview” branch, but it should still work.) Instructions for OC’ing your GCC adapter can also be found on the gcadapter-oc-kmod GitHub.

EDIT (11-30-2023): made installation even easier with a script. Just download the .desktop file in Desktop Mode (right-click, save as), then run it. Let me know how it goes!

Go to Desktop Mode. If you don’t have a root password set up already, open up a terminal and run passwd. Set up your password as desired.

Next, disable SteamOS’ read-only filesystem:

sudo steamos-readonly disable

Enter your sudo password when prompted.

Populate the pacman keys:

sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux holo

Install the necessary developer tools and the Linux headers, so we can compile gcadapter-oc-kmod:

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel "$(cat /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/pkgbase)-headers"

Press Enter when prompted to install the packages.

Great. Now clone the gcadapter-oc-kmod repo and change into the newly created directory:

git clone https://github.com/hannesmann/gcadapter-oc-kmod.git
cd gcadapter-oc-kmod

Compile the program with make:

make

Finally, install the module:

sudo insmod gcadapter_oc.ko

Done! Your GC controller adapter should now be overclocked to 1,000 Hz in both Desktop Mode and Game Mode.

Keep the Adapter Overclocked Across Reboots

The polling rate will go back to 125 Hz if you restart the Deck. Fortunately, we can keep the overclock persistent across reboots. While you’re still in Desktop Mode with the terminal open, and you’re in the gcadapter-oc-kmod folder, run the following:

sudo mkdir -p "/usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra"
sudo cp gcadapter_oc.ko "/usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra"
sudo depmod
echo "gcadapter_oc" | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/gcadapter_oc.conf

Optionally restore the read-only filesystem with:

sudo steamos-readonly enable

Note that, if Valve decides to update the kernel at some point (6.1 at the time of writing this), you’ll need to re-run most, if not all of these commands.

See my Slippi guide if you want to get Slippi set up on your Steam Deck, and my older guide for getting the adapter OC’d on other Linux distros. Thanks to hannesmann for helping me to future-proof this guide and figuring out how to keep the adapter OC’d across reboots.

Turn Your Steam Deck OLED Into a Buttery-Smooth 120 Hz Machine With This Script

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 16:05:36 +0000

Not satisfied with the Deck OLED’s 90 Hz refresh rate? Turns out, depending on the type of display it has, you can upgrade the refresh rate to 120 Hz by running a simple script. Even LCD users can benefit from this script – it will overclock the refresh rate on said displays to 70 Hz. It’s actually been quite nice with Overwatch 2, at low settings with 1024 x 768 resolution. But primarily 2D games will benefit from this the most, since the Deck’s APU generally isn’t powerful enough to render more-demanding titles past 90 FPS.

Disclaimer

This guide assumes that you’re using SteamOS 3.5.7 stable. I have not tested this on the Preview branch. Please be advised, however, that if you run this script without having the proper display, you can potentially ruin your display. One user on r/SteamDeck reported that “everything becomes completely garbled at 100 Hz” on the Samsung display (you might be able to get away with 98 or 99 Hz though). I am not responsible if anyone gets their display messed up.

Find Out the Panel Manufacturer

The Steam Deck OLED comes in one of two flavors with the display: it’s either from BOE (Beijing Oriental Electronics) or Samsung. This script is compatible with BOE (which I have personally tested and confirmed on my own unit). If it’s from Samsung, I would advise against using the script, at least for now.

To find out what display you’re using, go to Desktop Mode and run the following command in the terminal:

cat /sys/class/drm/card0-eDP-1/edid | hexdump -C

Pay attention to the first row. Take note of the third number on the right-hand side of the row. This will tell you what display you have:

01: BOE LCD display
02: No longer used
03: Samsung OLED
04: BOE OLED

As you can see here, it says 04 on my end. I therefore have the BOE OLED screen and can safely run this script without issue.

Download and Install the Script

From here, the instructions are fairly simple. While your terminal window is still open, run the following commands:

git clone https://git.spec.cat/Nyaaori/deck-refresh-rate-expander.git
cd deck-refresh-rate-expander
sudo bash install-rre.sh

That’s it! Just go back to Game Mode and you should now be able to push the refresh rate up to 120 Hz (make sure the unified frame rate management is toggled on in Settings -> Display). No restart should be required.

One caveat to this, if you push the refresh rate anything past 109 Hz, the colors on the screen become more “dull.” You can (maybe) see this demonstrated here with my crappy phone camera (I recommend opening the image up in a new tab):

Also keep in mind that obviously a higher refresh rate is going to come at the cost of increased battery consumption.

What to do if the Script Breaks your Display

Don’t lose all hope. There should be a couple of different options at your disposal. One is by re-formatting your SSD with the Steam Deck recovery image. Keep in mind you will lose all your data on the drive, so if you have anything valuable on it, back the files up first.

If you’d rather not do something so drastic, Nyaaori, author of the script, recommends setting the refresh rate down to 98 or 99 Hz. You may have to connect an external display if you can’t see the screen at all. If that doesn’t work, change the SteamOS branch. Yet, if that doesn’t work, unlock the filesystem in Desktop Mode with sudo steamos-readonly disable, move /usr/bin/gamescope.orig back to /usr/bin/gamescope, then re-enable read-only mode with sudo steamos-readonly enable.

Now if only someone could get VRR running…

Steam Deck OLED, Limited Edition - Quick Thoughts

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 19:12:47 +0000

I was one of the very few reviewers out there who was critical of the Steam Deck when the first model was released a little over 18 months ago. It’s probably one of the reasons why Valve never reached out to me for a review sample of the OLED model. At least I take solace in the fact that even some of the more prolific content creators out there – such as CryoByte33 – didn’t get a review unit.

The problem now is, since the OLED hype is over with all the people who have already reviewed the newer refresh, there’s not much more I can contribute here. The ship has sailed, so to speak. That being said, however, this post will go over the Limited Edition, and will serve more so as a “quick impressions” rather than a full-fledged review.

I kind of wish Valve still had a 64 GB SKU for the OLED. Would have been nice to save some money – and all users would have to do is upgrade the drive with the one they were using in their LCD model, or just slip in a 1 TB MicroSD card.

At any rate, here are the differences with the 1 TB OLED model and the 1 TB Limited Edition:

the included carrying case comes with a removable liner
you get a “Steam profile bundle” along with an exclusive startup movie and OSK theme
the front and back shell is a smoky, charcoal-colored, translucent color
various parts of the device are accented with an orange tint, including the back screws, the vents, and the bottom part of the sticks
the LE is only available in the US and Canana
it’s $30 more expensive than the regular 1 TB model

It took me about half-an-hour to make the order when the OLED was made available for purchase on Steam. It was in my cart but the transaction wouldn’t go through. After some time though, the order finally went through. I got it eight days later – last Friday.

Hardware Visuals

Package-wise, it’s largely the same as the one I got with the LCD model. Same brown box, same size. Same box with the charger inside, the case nestled right next to it, you get the idea. Where the magic happens is after you unpack the plastic for the case, remove the paper, and undo the anti-theft tag that secures the zippers.

The outer case has a velcro strip that secures the liner in place. Upon opening it, the removable liner looks gorgeous, at least on the inside. Around the zipper area is an orange accent. The fabric feels very nice, and it’s got the design of the Deck being torn apart with various internal parts exposed. Unlike the LCD Deck that I have, the case also comes with a little bag in the back where the strap is. It’s barely large enough to fit the charger, now that the cable is even longer than the one supplied with the LCD model, but I have used it to store the kickstand part of the DeckMate accessory.

Onto the Deck itself. This also looks very gorgeous. The button labels are slightly darker than they appear on the LCD model. The D-pad feels more mushy, but that’s in a good way, in a way that’s hard to explain. It just feels more satisfying to press. I didn’t really have any complaints about the sticks on the LCD model, but the way they’re built now, they have “increased grip and dust built-up resistance.” Alkazar, the founder of ChimeraOS, did mention in my first interview with him that he found the original sticks to be “incredibly slippery” though, so perhaps the refined sticks on the OLED model will be of benefit to people like him.

The shoulder buttons are slightly more click-y. Same goes with the Steam and QAM buttons; they are far less mushy than on my LCD model. The trackpads overall just feel a lot more nice, since they have “improved fidelity and edge detection” as well as “greatly improved trackpad haptics feel and precision.”

Overall I’m really pleased with the color of the shell itself. It’s not super black; it’s more so a charcoal color. It’s not the most translucent shell out there – even if I put this to a light, the only thing I can really see on the inside is the ribbon cables that connect to the daughterboards. Interestingly enough, it’s easier to see the internals through the back side of the device. Here I can easily see the battery, the thumbsticks, and the daughterboards.

The subtle orange accent is pretty nice too. The back screws are more easily seen thanks to this. I didn’t think I was going to like the orange accent on the sticks when I saw videos prior to actually getting one, but they have kind of stuck with me. The vents and the power button are also orange-colored. I’m guessing Valve wanted to sort of give this model a Half-Life theme.

Even though the OLED is only a single ounce lighter than the LCD Deck, I can feel the difference when holding the two devices together. A lighter device means less strain on your arms – and maybe even your neck – when you’re playing for a few hours straight. And somehow, it’s still lighter with the bigger battery. A wonderful engineering feat.

Accessories and Hardware Modding

I can confirm every accessory that I’ve tested so far – including the JSAUX ModCase and the DeckMate – is 100% backward compatible with the OLED model. This is incredibly convenient. No need for manufacturers to re-produce the same accessories for a different profile, and no need for the end user to buy another accessory. As for the DeckMate, I can attach the main frame to the Deck and it can still fit comfortably inside the case. Any accessories that go with it, I just put them in the little bag that’s supplied with the case.

At some point I also plan on replacing the back shell with the JSAUX RGB backplate, just for curiousity’s sake. Well, actually I want to see if the Deck will operate at a cooler temperature with the thermal pad that the RGB backplate uses. Otherwise, I’m kind of nervous to do any kind of hardware mod with the OLED. It’s pretty nice as is.

I definitely don’t see myself replacing the front shell, thumbsticks, or the buttons. Matter of fact, I don’t even think it’s possible to use third-party joysticks, since the way the OLED thumbsticks are designed, the shoulder buttons are on them. If I put the GuliKit sticks in, for example, I would lose functionality of the left and right shoulder buttons, since they aren’t on the daughterboards anymore.

Repairibility

It was great enough that Valve offered the right-to-repair on the original Steam Deck. And now it’s even better. Naturally, I couldn’t resist the urge to take the back plate off to see the internals. Taking a device apart sometimes feels…oddly therapeutic.

So, here are the repairability advantages that the OLED has over the original, according to iFixit:

all screws are replaced with T6 Torx, to reduce the risk of stripping (all of the back cover screws are the same size too)
four of the screw pillars are embedded with a metal thread, which further reduces the risk of stripping
broken shoulder buttons are less expensive to replace now that they’re on the thumbsticks as opposed to the daughterboards
refined motherboard – two RAM chips as opposed to four, and they’re smaller. Overall less clutter, and the SSD no longer is on top of the Wi-Fi module, which, in turn, should result in less radio frequency interference
easier to remove the OLED panel since the adhesives are “relatively light.” Should make it easier for front-shell swapping
the daughterboards can now be removed without having to remove the triggers, making disassembly easier
the battery no longer sticks to a large adhesive pad, and is instead secured with four strips, making the removal process somewhat easier

Note, however, that there are still some flaws present:

since the OLED display has a different design, it won’t be possible to use the DeckHD, or upgrade your LCD screen with the OLED panel
you can’t upgrade the trackpads on the LCD Deck with the OLED ones, since they use a different connector
the MicroSD card slot is still located inside of the back shell, making you cognizant of the need to remove the card prior to taking off the back shell so it doesn’t snap
battery is still a pain to take out, despite the strips making the removal a bit easier
the sticks are still using potentiometers, which will cause wear over time
not every household is going to conveniently have a T6 Torx screwdriver available, unlike a Phillips screwdriver

Still, the advantages far outweigh than the disavantages.

Overall Experience

I tried to find some complaints with the OLED Deck…and honestly, I don’t have much to criticize. It’s by far the best refresh I’ve ever seen for any device. It has less input lag than the LCD model by an average of 10 milliseconds. Sometimes it’s even faster depending on the framerate/refresh rate. It’s going to make fighting games, like Super Smash Bros. Melee, a more “snappy” experience.

Combined with the lighter weight, a bigger battery, more screen real estate, easier repairability, slightly faster RAM, backwards compatibility with most – if not all – Steam Deck accessories for the LCD model, improved ergonomics with the trackpads, a brighter and more colorful display…maybe the $680 was worth it.

I have managed to succesfully undervolt the OLED model to -30mV on the CPU, GPU, and SoC. And naturally I got CryoUtilities up and running with 8 GB swap, swappiness of 50, 4 GB UMA frame buffer size. Decky-Loader worked just fine as expected, as well as EmuDeck. Gotta have that customized Steam theme and sound effects, ya know?

You don’t get the “exclusive” OSK theme or startup movie out-of-the-box. You have to “claim” them through your Steam profile. For some odd reason, I had trouble getting this to work properly. I had to try a few times, until I finally got them. But I’m telling you, the black and red color scheme of the OSK is nice, and is in great harmony with the hardware aesthetics. The LE edition startup movie is also fantastic.

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As for games, lately I’ve been trying Ship of Harkinian (Zelda: OoT PC port) with some nice visual enhancements, and Render96, an HD overhaul for Super Mario 64, running natively on Linux. I’ll probably have a guide up soon with getting these games set up. Both games play and look great on the OLED, and it’s been just a battery sipper having the TDP limit around 4 W and still getting a nice 60 FPS on Render96, and a native 90 FPS with SoH. I’ve also been playing Overwatch 2, running at 90 FPS at Medium settings with a TDP limit of around 10 W (using FSR, of course). It’s just been a really great experience so far.

And let me tell you: no other PC handheld out there is going to have as great Linux support as the Deck does. I still do like the Legion Go for its larger screen real estate and more powerful performance, but Linux support isn’t as good.

So…what am I going to do with my old Deck? Keep it for modding purposes. I still do love the GameCube-esque aesthetic that I put on it. It also has a larger resolution and better color quality than the stock LCD screen, thanks to the DeckHD upgrade (I’ll have a more detailed review on DeckHD soon). I may also look into overclocking the RAM and APU, see if I can squeeze some more performance out of it. And just sort of use it like a console now, while taking the OLED with me on the go.

Speaking of the DeckHD, here’s a head-to-head comparison with Metroid Prime Remastered. Surprisingly, the color quality – at least in my eyes – looks pretty close to that of the OLED. The OLED does look a little more saturated and vibrant in color, but the DeckHD comes pretty darn close, while reaping a larger, 1200p resolution. Perhaps the anti-glare etched glass screen on the OLED hinders the colors somewhat.

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Heh…did I say this was going to be a “quick impressions” article? Looks like I got a bit carried away there. But yeah, the OLED Deck has been a solid upgrade over the LCD model. It was worth getting…even if I had to pay for it instead of getting a review unit.

TL;DR

The good:

beautiful aesthetics, from the removable liner pictures to the smoky translucent shell
less input lag over original, along with a plethora of other minor improvements
more satisfying D-pad and trackpads, clickier shoulder buttons and Steam/QAM buttons
longer battery life, richer screen colors, more screen real estate, lighter weight
still compatible with accessories made for the LCD model
easier repairability, refined mobo for less RF interference

The not-so-good:

MicroSD card slot is still located at the bottom shell – be sure to remove any MicroSD cards prior to taking the backplate off!
battery is still a royal pain to take out
some parts, such as the screen and trackpads, can’t be upgraded on the LCD Deck with the OLED parts
thumbsticks are still using potentiometers, resulting in wear over time
minimum SSD size you can get is 512 GB; it would have been nice to have a cheaper 64 or 256 GB SKU

Head on over to the Steam store if you’re interested in getting one. Both the LE and the regular OLED models are still in stock, at least here in the US.

VKD3D-Proton 2.11 Enables DXR By Default, Improves Performance in Halo Infinite by 15%

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 16:57:01 +0000

VKD3D-Proton 2.11 released less than an hour ago and with it comes “a bunch of features, perf improvements and bug fixes / workarounds.”

DXR (DirectX Raytracing) is now enabled by default. No need to supply the VKD3D_CONFIG=dxr launch parameter anymore. Note, however, there are certain cases where it’s not enabled by default, such as Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice on Steam Deck. Game-specific fixes that use DXR include Battlefield V, Warhammer: Darktide, and Jurassic World Evolution 2. Workarounds for Witcher 3 causing broken shadows and GPU hangs when DXR was enabled have been added.

RDNA2+ and Turing+ GPUs have the DX Ultimate feature set exposed. FSR 3 can now be used with supported games thanks to the implementation of the missing MSAD instruction in DXIL.

In the performance department, it has been noted that Halo Infinite on RADV has “15% FPS gains” due to the improved performance of NV_device_generated_commands and NV_device_generated_commands_compute “by reordering and batching command preprocessing.” Starfield is also seeing some minor performance gains, by 1-2%. Note, however, that these performance gains will need “pending Mesa work to land” in order for users to receive this benefit. CPU overhead on NVIDIA has been ‘greatly reduced.’

Workarounds have been added to the following titles, whether it was a GPU hang, broken shadows, or random crashes:

Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways DLC
Lords of the Fallen
Witcher 3
Cyberpunk 2077
Windjammers 2

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

No, You Can't Upgrade the LCD Steam Deck with an OLED Panel

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 17:02:51 +0000

While Gamers Nexus had already revealed a couple of the differences between the LCD Deck and OLED Deck internals, a more recent video by iFixit reveals even more details.

All of the Phillips screws from the LCD model have been replaced with T6 Torx – both on the inside and on the outside. The reasoning behind this is so the screws don’t strip as easily while you’re taking them in or out. Only caveat here, is most households aren’t going to have a Torx screwdriver, since they are less common.

The four screw pillars – one located in each corner of the Deck – are now embedded with a metal thread. With this, the back cover isn’t screwed directly into plastic; metal threads won’t strip as easily as plastic.

Gamers Nexus had mentioned this already, but it’s good to re-iterate the shoulder button repairability. The shoulder buttons are now located on the thumbsticks rather than the daughterboards they were on previously. This makes shoulder buttons easier to repair, as you can simply replace it by getting a new thumbstick – less expensive than buying the daughterboard.

With less clutter on the motherboard, the M.2 drive has been rotated 90 degrees, upside down. It no longer hovers over the Wi-Fi chip. This will prevent the SSD from emitting RF interference to the Wi-Fi module.

The daughterboards can now be removed without having to remove the triggers.

iFixit mentions “removing the screen is fairly straightforward” since the adhesive around the bezels is “relatively light.” Note, however, that due to the way the ribbon cables are oriented, you won’t be able to replace your LCD Deck’s screen with the OLED panel. The LCD’s motherboard also “doesn’t have the necessary chipsets to interface with the OLED screen; it’s simply not possible to do a straight swap.”

You won’t be able to replace the old touchpads in your Deck with the OLED ones either. This is due to the new touchboard having a six-pin connector as opposed to the old one having four.

As for the fan, it has been flipped over on the OLED model, and the metal chassis has been redesigned slightly.

Can you upgrade your old Deck with the OLED’s 50 Wh battery? No. It’s too thick to fit inside. The reason why it fits in the OLED model in the first place is because the OLED panel is thinner than the LCD panel.

Keep in mind that, the MicroSD card slot is still located in the back shell, so be sure to take this out prior to removing the back shell.

The battery is still glued. While the adhesive pads were done away with and replaced with four strips, the removal process is somewhat easier, but still a royal pain to take out.

See iFixit’s video for more details.

NVK Reaches Vulkan 1.0 Conformance

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:17:36 +0000

NVK – the open-source driver for NVIDIA GPUs, spearheaded by the team at Collabora – is getting better and better as the months go by. Starting today, NVK “is now an officially conformant implementation of the Vulkan 1.0 API on NVIDIA Turing hardware.” The blog post from Collabora, written by Faith Ekstrand, mentions that this “is the first time any Nouveau driver has gotten the Khronos conformance badge on any API.”

The basic English translation of this: Turing GPUs and later “should pretty much work” with this driver, albeit for app-specific bugs. Maxwell GPUs will get support later down the road. The new back-end compiler for NVK had also gotten merged this week in Mesa, which fixes a number of bugs from the old one.

Faith also outlines their plans for NVK heading into the new year:

I’ll continue improving the new compiler, both in terms of features and performance. Most of the Vulkan API features we’re still missing relative to other drivers are effectively compiler features. We’re not very far off from being able to advertise Vulkan 1.3 but it’s all compiler work between here and there.

At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if in a few years’ time users with NVIDIA GPUs will be able to use NVK as their daily driver without needing to use NVIDIA’s proprietary drivers.

See the blog post for more details.

Upcoming Portal 2 Mod is a Prequel With An Eight Hour Campaign

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 17:23:37 +0000

There are a few Portal mods that are in the works, including Portal 2: Desolation. But there’s one mod in particular that actually has a release date: Portal: Revolution.

The game is “a fan-made mod for Portal 2 which plays before the events of Portal 2 in the dead and decaying Aperture facility.” You are guided by the personality core known as Stirling, in the hopes that you’ll come across “a powerful device capable of restoring Aperture to its former glory.” Featuring 40 puzzles with “new test elements,” the playthrough is expected to last about eight hours. The difficulty “starts where Portal 2 stops” but “no puzzles require advanced tricky movement.”

Since the mod is using a custom version of CS:GO’s Source engine, this allows the small team of just seven members “to introduce many mechanics and improvements to the engine to create an experience which would be impossible in Portal 2.” And from the looks of it on the Steam store page, it looks like there will be a native Linux version of the mod.

Over the weekend, the team released a trailer, which so far has gotten over 260k views. They mention in a blog post that the game “is 99% complete” and will release on January 5th, 2024.

I’m really excited for this one. I’m just hoping it won’t be as difficult as Portal: Reloaded or Portal Stories: Mel.

See the Steam store page for more details.

Images credit of Second Face Software.

Steam Deck OLED Has Less Input Lag

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 05:00:06 +0000

Aside from a better screen, longer battery life, faster RAM, refined sticks, and a less cluttered motherboard, people are still finding more advantages that the Deck OLED has over its LCD counterpart – things that not even Valve have mentioned themselves. One such advantage is the fact that, according to Digital Foundry, the OLED has less input lag than the original.

Using NVIDIA’s LDAT system to measure input lag, they mention that on average the OLED has a faster input response by 10 milliseconds, but it gets even better due to the OLED’s faster 90 Hz display, which plays “a key role when the Deck’s frame rate limiting options are engaged.” They tested two titles: DOOM Eternal and Crysis 3 Remastered. They measured the input lag between 90 Hz, 60 Hz, and 50 Hz.

On DOOM Eternal [at 60 FPS/Hz], end to end input lag – button to Photon, if you will – comes in at 77.2 milliseconds across a sample of 20 captures. That’s averaged out of course and this drops to 68.7 milliseconds on the OLED model. The faster you run a game, the lower its input lag. So it’s no surprise to see that at 90 HZ on OLED, input lag drops to 51.1 milliseconds.

Crysis 3 Remastered [at 90 FPS/Hz and 60 FPS/Hz] – it’s inherently a laggier game with LCD delivering a 97.7 millisecond end-to-end latency reading, dropping to 86.4 milliseconds on OLED. This time, an 11.3 millisecond reduction in input lag. 65.2 milliseconds at 90 Hz offers up a 32.5 millisecond reduction compared to LCD at 60 Hz.

They also compare the two games at 40 FPS, with a refresh rate of 40 Hz on the LCD model and 80 Hz on the OLED. There was a 22ms improvement with the OLED model on DOOM Eternal. At 30 FPS/90 Hz there was a 18ms advantage. Since Crysis 3 Remastered is a “laggier” game, there wasn’t as much of an improvement in response time, but it was still there, with a 16.3ms advantage on the OLED model at 40 FPS/80 Hz.

I won’t go over all the numbers here. Just watch the video for more details.

This is excellent. Gameplay should now feel more “snappy.” Fighting games especially will benefit from this improved response time.

Images credit of Digital Foundry.

You Can Now Run DirectX 8 Titles Directly through GE-Proton

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 04:45:47 +0000

Today’s update to GE-Proton is fairly interesting. If you have any games that use DirectX 8, you can now launch them directly with GE-Proton8-24 rather than using D8VK. You just need to supply PROTON_ENABLE_D8VK=1 in the game’s launch parameters. Thanks to loathingKernel – one of the contributors to the Rare EGS launcher – for this feature!

Aside from that, GE-Proton8-24 adds/updates fixes for Fable III, Yazuka 5, and Farlight 84. Video decoders have been added for Crimson Skies and Mafia. DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and Wine have all been updated to master or bleeding-edge.

All this and more in the patch notes. Steam Deck users can now easily install the latest version of GE-Proton with the Wine Cellar plugin.

SteamOS 3.5.5: The Biggest Steam Deck Update of the Year!

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 04:25:49 +0000

Almost as soon as I wrote my previous post regarding the latest Steam Deck client update I was eating my own words regarding the availability of SteamOS 3.5 as stable. It’s available NOW, just in time for Deck OLED users, and, were I to cover every single change from the last SteamOS update, this post would stretch for a mile.

First, the color rendering has been adjusted to emulate the sRGB color range. According to the patch notes, this will result “in a slightly warmer and more vibrant color appearance.” You can tweak this back to the native color render, or boost the sRGB for more saturated colors. Guess we can say goodbye to the vibrantDeck plugin. Color temperature can also be adjusted to a more cooler, blue hue or a warmer orange tint.

HDR and VRR can now be enabled via a toggle in the QAM, provided that the connected external display supports these options. The official Steam Deck dock also gets updated firmware to support VRR. HDR visualization can be adjusted to waveform/color gamut, heatmap, heatmap extended, and heatmap classic.

In the QAM, scaling modes have been separated from the filtering options. Stretch and Zoom (Fill?) scaling modes are now available. Got that game that only allows 16:9? Well, thankfully you can fill the black borders at the top and bottom of the screen with the Stretch option.

It’s not mentioned in the patch notes, but the frame rate limiter and refresh rate sliders have been combined into one. You can separate them again under Settings -> Display -> Advanced -> Enable Unified Frame Limit Management. Another thing not mentioned in the patch notes, is a new scaling filter option has been added: NIS (NVIDIA Image Scaling). The shaprness level can be adjusted anywhere from 0 to 10. Personally, I find it to be a little better than FSR, as the sharpness is more, well, sharp.

Support for the Deck OLED has been added.

External media, such as MicroSD cards, are now automatically mounted as soon as they’re connected. External media can also be formatted and/or managed directly through Steam’s interface.

Mesa has been updated to 23.1.3. Some games may get their shader cache size reduced by up to 60% with this update. The VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library extension is now enabled by default, which, apparently, improves game load times and reduces graphical stutter. The patch notes for the update also mention improved performance with Starfield, and fixed “viewmodel corruption” and “launch failures” in a few other titles.

With the updated firmware, version 118, you can now undervolt the CPU, GPU, and the SoC via the BIOS menu. Based on my testing I’ve seen some marginal improvements as far as battery life with AAA titles, although indie games that aren’t going to peg the Deck’s APU are going to see an even shorter battery life.

A critical bug was fixed: there should no longer be “severe CPU performance issues” while SMT is enabled.

And, thank God, the Arch base has finally, finally been updated, including the kernel itself. Kernel 5.13 is now dead and has been replaced with the more recent 6.1 LTS release. Particular improvements to this kernel update include bug fixes and performance improvements with ext4, huge Btrfs performance improvements, Wi-Fi 7 support, and better support for third-party Nintendo gamepads. KDE Plasma has also been updated to 5.27.5.

EDIT (11-17-2023): you should also be able to install Nix packages!

Some other minor improvements:

Bluetooth connection stability, particularly when multiple gamepads are connected, has been improved, as well as improved sleep/resume speed
Latency and stutter when there are multiple overlays on screen has been reduced, since “compositing is now avoided in additional scenarios.” Latency in regards to applications rendering slower than the display’s refresh rate have also been improved
improved fade transitions between apps
MangoHUD can now be customized via the presets.conf file found in ~/.config/MangoHud/. The MangoPeel plugin can also be used to customize it via the QAM
controller bindings and M+K bindings can be swapped by holding down Options in the “Linux hid-steam driver”

And other fixes:

internal display backlight shouldn’t always stay on
touchscreen orientation when an external display is connected
some games could appear stretched if their window size didn’t match their swapchain size
Disgaea no longer needs to be “tapped on” before input works
physical dimensions being reported to games with the incorrect aspect ratio
workaround for tearing causing heavy stuttering when MangoHUD was enabled – tearing now “impossible in such situations”
keyboard input should now work for Overwatch 2
thumbstick touch sensors should no longer lose touch periodically

See the full patch notes on Steam.

Steam Deck Client Update Adds Visual Tweaks to UI, HDR Badges for Supported Games

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 18:06:50 +0000

15 minutes prior to the launch of the Steam Deck OLED, a new stable Deck client update has shipped to all users. SteamOS 3.5 hasn’t finalized just yet, but I’ve got a hunch it will become stable within the next couple of weeks, just in time for when users get their Deck OLED.

First, “plugged-in” Decks can now use local game content transfers between different Steam clients on the same local network.

Some visual tweaks have been applied to Home, Library, and other areas of the UI for “a more visually-rich experience.”

Soundtrack pages are now easier to navigate, with a “nicer layout.”

Supposedly games that support HDR have a badge now, although the only way I can verify personally is by using the HDR filter to sort my library and seeing the “HDR Support” text in the game details page.

Controller support details have been added or enhanced in some way. For instance, you can now disable Steam Input for a controller more seamlessly by going to a game’s controller configuration page, selecting the little cog icon, and disabling/enabling Steam Input from the dropdown menu. There are tabs to choose from when there are multiple gamepads connected. PlayStation controllers default to the game’s built-in support, and if that’s not available, it will switch to Steam Input.

Aside from that, there’s the usual set of bug fixes, such as layout and interaction bugs in the Media viewer, games not being able to launch if it had new workshop content available and auto-updates were turned off, Remote Play fixes for Android TV and Intel iGPU hardware encoding, and a few fixes related to Steam Input.

See the full patch notes on Steam.

By the way, how’s everyone doing on getting a Deck OLED? Just managed to snag a limited edition model.

Some Adjustments, Plus Upcoming Articles

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 18:14:13 +0000

I noticed during my break that my sanity had significantly improved. That being said, however, now that I’ve resumed writing since late September and have had the opportunity to think things through, there will be a few changes going forward – which you may have noticed already.

TL;DR

less news, more original content
Twitter / X will rarely be used
some good stuff to look forward to, including interviews and reviews
please let me know in the comments what articles you want to see!

Less News, More Original Content

First, news will be limited, with a stronger emphasis on more original content. There will be no weekly news recap. I may not even cover major software updates.

There are a number of reasons for this. For one thing, this will give me a chance to breathe. It frees me from the needless anxiety of rushing to get an article out just for the sake of views. Spending less time on the news also gives me the time to work on more original content – such as reviews, guides, and interviews – and actually have the chance to go outside for a walk.

Another reason is, the news is everywhere. Take, for example, the Deck OLED that was announced on Thursday. I know for a fact you’ve read or seen about that 100 times at this point. If I were to write a piece about that, that would make it the 101st time you’ve read such a thing. This is frankly needless, repetitive information that doesn’t need to be rehashed over and over. You’re well aware of such a device and you don’t need to be reminded about it for the 101st time. Believe me, I get a headache myself when I’m catching up on the news and I see this being talked about in just about every news feed that I’m subscribed to.

A third reason is – and I’m going to be honest here – some websites and YouTubers trigger me. While I will try to be as unbiased as I can in my news reporting, there are some media outlets that I just can’t stand visiting anymore. And no, of course I’m not going to mention these people by name, as I still do have a certain measure of respect for them. But every time I do read or see their content, I get frustrated – because I have to be reminded how much better they’re doing, and see them rub off to me their gadgets that I don’t get. I’ll admit, I’ve been fortunate as of late to get some pretty decent review products – be it hardware or games. Some of you even expressed jealousy with my GameCube-themed Deck. So maybe it goes in both ways. Shrugs. But, of course, I didn’t get a Deck OLED, so there won’t even be any point in doing a review even after I buy it – because you’ve probably read quite a few reviews already.

Twitter / X was once tolerable with TweetDeck. Or, more specifically, ModernDeck. It was free of ads, the interface was cleaner, I wasn’t getting pushed with Tweets from people I don’t follow, I wasn’t getting people’s political opinions shoved down my throat, and I could push my articles out with RSS automation – without even needing to visit Twitter in the process.

Now that Elon has taken over the social media website, TweetDeck is locked behind a “Premium” paywall. I’m forced to use the default web interface for Tweeting. I have to manually put in the title of my articles along with the URL whenever I push a new article out, because RSS automation is now locked behind a paywall as well. I have to use uBlock Origin to block specific areas that are ads. I have anxiety and stress from reading Tweets from people who are incredibly pessimistic and are always complaining about something. And while of course muting and blocking are options, the thing is, other Tweeters will come into the fore, and you’ll have to repeat the process with them. It’s a frustrating mess that I’d rather not have to deal with.

So, needless to say, I won’t be using X often at this point. If you want to keep up-to-date with articles posted on LGC, please follow me on Mastodon or subscribe to my RSS feed. On Mastodon I will conduct occasional polls to get people’s thoughts on certain things, such as whether I should write about this or that. Might even share some clips or photos for upcoming articles.

Upcoming Content

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here is my outline of some upcoming articles that may or may not come to fruition:

interview with Fizzi, creator of Slippi. They responded with “I’m not accepting many interview requests at the moment.” When I followed up with the question if they would be up for an interview a few months from now, they replied, “I don’t know at the moment.” So, I’m not really sure if this will happen. I really hope it does though. We’ll see.
interview with the founder of Cemu, the Wii U emulator. I had contacted them way back in April and they said they would be up for one. After I sent them a list of questions, they never got back to me, even after some occasional reminders. So, I don’t think this one will happen, unfortunately.
another interview with James Ramey, president of CodeWeavers. I want to get his thoughts on the new Deck OLED and where things are progressing with Proton.
Legion Go with ChimeraOS. I had jotted down some quick notes when I first tried the distro on said handheld, but I will likely have a more full, detailed review once the OS matures and there’s complete compatibility with the device. As it is, progress on the handheld has been coming along quite nicely.
upcoming distro reviews. Particularly I’m looking at the Fedora-based Bazzite, “an alternative operating system for the Steam Deck,” and winesapOS. I’ve been meaning to review the latter distro for some time, but I’m waiting for the next release before I do so.
DeckHD review. Pretty horrible timing now that the Deck OLED has been announced, but it’s already on its way and I can’t back out of it. Still, I guess the bigger resolution will be nice though.
Battle Shapers review. I had reviewed the roguelite FPS demo back in June. Now that I have the full game, I will probably wait until it is out of early access before I review it again.
probably some other stuff I’m forgetting to mention

What Would You Like to See?

I hope these changes aren’t too drastic for my readers. In the meantime, I’ll take this post as an opportunity to ask what you want to see. Want a Steam Deck plugin covered? An interview with someone I didn’t mention? A guide on how to do x? Please let me know in the comments! I’m eager to hear your thoughts.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 - Finally, A Worthy Smash Contender

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 17:51:56 +0000

I played the original Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl when it came out two years ago and had reviewed it over on Boiling Steam. While it wasn’t that bad of a game, frankly it had just been rushed out way too quickly. The game lacked voiceovers, characters only had three special moves rather than four, they lacked a forward and back air attack, the arcade mode was only a quarter-baked…you can read about some of the other flaws from my post earlier this year about platform fighters not being able to keep up with Smash.

And, to be honest, it kind of made sense, given that the publisher, GameMill Entertainment, is known for not only giving developers extremely tight deadlines, but letting experienced staff go because they don’t get enough funding. Take, for example, the worst game of 2023: Skull Island: Rise of Kong. In an interview with The Verge, the developers reported having only a year to work on the game. You put the pieces of the puzzle together, and the game definitely would have been better if the developers were given more time to work on it.

And yet, to my surprise, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 – despite being published by the same company in just two years after the original – exceeded my expectations. Fair Play Labs returns as the developer, but curiously the Steam store page for the game omits the name Ludosity – the makers of Slap City. In any case, NASB 2 takes the original and blows it out of the park, addressing nearly every flaw of the orignial and improving the gameplay, the mechanics, the sounds and music, and in many other ways. It’s one of the few times where the sequel to a game is better than the original. Just like how Super Smash Bros. Melee took the formula from the original Super Smash Bros. 64 and expanded upon it in nearly every way, for the better.

Vastly Improved Gameplay

So, here’s what’s been improved:

characters have voices baked in right from the get-go, and they’re pretty decent at that
the announcer sounds less annoying
sound effects when attacking an opponent are more satisfying to hear
background music sounds less generic
characters now have a side special in addition to up, down, and neutral
characters now have a forward and back air attack, in addition to neutral, up, and down
shields have been improved as far as how they work, and behave similarly to the shielding in Smash
each character’s grab has been re-worked. Instead of holding on to them like Donkey Kong, they can now throw in four different directions, with a unique animation for each character, thus bringing more personality into each character
instead of just dashing, characters can now walk and adjust their movement speed depending on how far the stick is tilted
side-tilts have been added
strong attacks can now be charged, whether the character is on the ground or in the air
each character has three unique costumes to choose from rather than just one or two, and a few more can be unlocked through the story mode
the arcade mode feels more fleshed out, with different challenges, including bosses and team battles
crossplatform multiplayer
story mode
a vastly improved training mode that actually provides you with stats, like showing you the directions you input and the name of the animation your character is currently in

All of these make the game so much better, and you’ll feel right at home if you’ve played any of the Smash games. The mechanics are very similar to Melee, albeit some techniques are easier to pull off. For example, wavedashing (sliding across the ground without walking, making it more difficult for your opponents to guess an upcoming attack) has been made easier. You can just hold the left stick diagonally downwards while pressing jump and shield simultaneously. In Melee, you had to press the stick down every time you wanted to wavedash. There’s also auto L-canceling. There practically isn’t any end lag when returning to the ground from an air attack; there’s no need to press the shield button to shorten the animation speed. Unfortunately you can’t pull off moonwalking like you can in Melee, but that would add a whole degree of complexity that would probably turn off any newcomer to this platform fighter.

In the original game, air dodging was simply an air dash; your character was still vulnerable to attacks. In NASB 2, shielding in the air feels more like an air dodge in Smash Ultimate. Your character won’t go into freefall afterwards. You can use your up special after airdodging for a longer distance recovery.

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NASB 2 introduces a new mechanic: Slime. The Slime gauge builds up over time with attacks to your opponents. This gauge can be filled up to three bars. By pressing the Slime button and a combination of another button, a character can use a stronger attack. It can also allow a character to recover back to the stage more easily, or to interrupt a combo to give your character another opportunity to strike. When the gauge is filled all the way up to three bars, the characters can make use of their ultimate attack. Similar to a Final Smash, when an opponent gets caught in the “wave” in front of the character, they’ll be launched off stage after a brief animation is played. It’s a pretty neat concept – it will likely take me some time getting used to all the things you can do with the Slime meter, but it certainly adds some variety to the combat.

The returning characters from the original aren’t just carbon copies of themselves. Each of them has been re-worked from the ground up. Their movesets are more in line with the references to their TV show counterpart, and overall their attacks just feel better to execute with more rewarding results. This also makes each character more unique over the other, giving you more options for the type of playstyle that you want. Do you want a brawler that’s heavy with strong, slow attacks, or do you want someone that’s faster but doesn’t provide as much knockback? Overall, the gameplay is just incredibly fun and feels a lot more akin to the Smash games.

Unlike the original, you can’t reflect projectiles with a strong attack, or grab them. Not really sure if this was a good or a bad move; I suppose it would be up to the preference of the player.

There are some odd quirks that I’ve seen. Sometimes players will clip through the stage depending on what they do. They might clip right through the stage and into the bottom of the arena if they get attacked at a certain angle. I’m pretty sure the devs are aware of this though; they’ve been pretty active on Twitter and seeing the feedback they’re getting from players.

The Roster

There are 26 fighters altogether. Some of them are returning veterans from the original, like SpongeBob and Patrick. Others are newcomers, like Squidward, Plankton, Jimmy Neutron, and the Angry Beavers. Sadly, some of the characters from the original have been dropped, such as Hugh Neutron, Shredder, Helga, and Oblina. Some of them have returned as NPCs that will help you on your journey, or have become a boss instead. My personal favorite fighter is Jenny Wakeman, who returns in this game in the base roster as opposed to her being one of the DLC fighters in the original. More fighters are planned as DLC. Just think of how upset Mr. Krabs will be when he loses money and the havok he’ll cause in the arena.

Each character has three different skins to choose from. There’s a DLC that unlocks a fourth for each one. It’s kind of disappointing that this is locked behind a paywall. It would have been good enough to have four skins from the start, and maybe then have additional costumes available for a price. Because as it is, what if there’s a four-player brawl where every player is the same character? One of them is going to have to have the same costume as another.

Story Mode

The story mode lasts about 5 hours. It has roguelite elements. The world is in control from the antagonist from Danny Phantom – Vlad Plasmius. While you’ll start off using SpongeBob, later on you’ll be able to fight other brawlers who are mind-controlled. Defeating these fighters will allow you to use them in subsequent runs.

Since the story is roguelite, you’ll start off at the beginning when getting a game over. However, perks can be obtained. Permanent upgrades like movement speed, the number of stocks that you have, and how much damage you’ll recover when you enter a new stage can be obtained through the game’s Slime and Splat. Both of these “currencies” are earned by completing stages, and these rewards are multiplied depending on the game difficulty that you choose.

Kind of think of it like Melee’s All-Star mode. You fight some baddies, move on to the next level with all the damage you accumulated from the last match still intact. Sometimes you’ll fight a horde of enemies. Other times you’ll fight a mind-controlled brawler. Interspersed with these matches are bonus stages, like Pop the Balloon (think of “Break the Targets!” in Smash), or a stage where you’ll have to make it to the end by jumping across various platforms. And sometimes you’ll come across a NPC that will provide some kind of performance enhancement for your character for that run.

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There are about 36 stages to go through until you reach the final boss. There’s three “areas”, each of which has 12 stages. Sometimes you can pick what stage you want to play. The final stage for an area will be a boss fight. You might have to brawl a King Jellyfish. Or Shredder. Until you reach Vlad at the final stage. Each run lasts about an hour, if you can make it until the end. But you’ll have to go through the portal multiple times, even if you “won”. Because there’s a new plot to be discovered through each run.

All-in-all, the story mode isn’t that bad. I don’t want to spoil it too much, but there are unique interactions between each character that you choose. It’s pretty fun and can be worth your while. Only concern that I have here is you can’t exit this mode; you can’t just pause while you’re on the stage selection screen and return to the main menu. You can only get out of this by quitting the game entirely.

Be aware there is no Steam cloud support. Same with the original game. It makes transfering saves between different devices a royal pain.

Other Single-Player Modes

The arcade mode, while an improvement from the original, is just sort of a carbon copy of the story mode. Different stages to choose from, different characters to fight, a boss to occasionally tackle, but it’s almost identical to the story mode, albeit without the rewards. This was a bit of a disappointment, and to me isn’t really worth trying out since it doesn’t really offer anything different than the story mode.

There’s also a boss rush mode, where you try to defeat each boss as quickly as you can, and you can access the Pop the Balloons and other bonus modes individually through the Single Player category.

Multiplayer

I haven’t played online multiplayer too much but I have come across a few hiccups. For example, crossplay can be turned on or off in the Options menu. Sometimes this option will randomly turn to “Off”. The game won’t remember your preference and will always default to “Off” each time you run the game.

There’s also long loading times on the Switch version, so if it takes longer than 30 seconds for a match to load, that’s why. Even then, when you do a ranked match, the loading screen doesn’t go away sometimes. And you’ll lose some of your ranking points if you exit the game. The devs are aware of this and are working on it.

Other than that, you can play Ranked, or find a quick match in a free-for-all format, one-on-one, or teams. There’s also a custom lobby feature where you can make your own rules and have others join in the lobby list. Lobbies can be password-protected if you so choose, so you can make sure you only have the players that you want. I don’t have much to say about the netcode, although from what I hear other people say the netcode is pretty decent.

Crossplatform multiplayer was originally going to show up in the original game, but it never came. But thankfully it’s here in the sequel. I’m actually pretty happy about this, because I can see this extending the longevity of the game.

Steam Deck Compatibilty

Runs OOTB with Proton 8.0-4. No need to add the WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winusb=d" %command% as users once had to do with the original. I’ve been able to get away with 6-7 watt TDP at 50-60 FPS with a GPU clock speed limit of 700 MHz (with two players on-screen; it might be a different story with four). Since it’s a fighting game, we’re obviously going to want 60 FPS at all times, so 8 W with a resolution of 1024 x 576 strikes a good balance at high settings.

There is, however, one noticeable issue that I’ve come across. When I connect the Deck to an external monitor, the framerate just kind of “skips” so to speak. Every second the game skips a few frames, and it gives me a pretty bad headache. After disconnecting the monitor, restarting the game, or adjusting any of the video options in the game, it doesn’t do anything to alliviate the tearing. The only solution I found so far is by deleting the game’s compatdata (2017080). Please back up the save files though, as the compatdata contains these files.

I’ve filed a bug report on the Proton GitHub, so if you experience anything similar, be sure to leave a comment there.

Also, for some reason, Start and Select are swapped out. So, if you want to access the Options menu on the main menu, for example, you’ll have to press the Back button as opposed to the three-lined hamburger icon, even though that’s the icon legend in the menu. You’ll have to change Steam Input to swap these buttons out.

A Platform Fighter Done Right

I’ve played a lot of platform fighters. NASB 2 has been the closest one that really does feel like a Smash game, while at the same time introducing new mechanics like Slime that add some “spice” to the gameplay. It outstandingly does better in just about every asset over the original game. And with easier wavedashing and auto L-cancel, you can confidentally put a controller in your friend’s hands and let them in on the action, even if they never played a platform fighter before. Crossplatform multiplayer, voiceovers (which are better than the original), better sound effects, music…I could just go on and on.

Only gripes are a “meh” arcade mode, occasional clipping of the characters through the stages, random softlocks in Ranked mode, and some characters from the original roster have for some reason been omitted.

There’s also a costume DLC that adds an additional costume to each character. I felt like this should have been included in the base game, as each character only comes with a set of three skins.

Other than that, I’ll definitely be playing NASB 2 for months, maybe even years, to come. It’s great to have a platform fighter available on PC. And no need to worry about your tournament getting shut down or having restrictive rules. I’m really looking forward to more updates to this game to address some of the minor hiccups, as well as the upcoming DLC fighters. I can already see people making mods for this game with more skins and the like.

TL;DR

The good:

surpasses the original game in every way, with side specials, forward and back air attacks, charged strong attacks, better shielding, original grabs and throws, and more
many of the original characters make a return, with new ones thrown into the mix, and each character has been re-worked for the better
Slime mechanic adds more variety to the gameplay, while still being easy enough for a newcomer to play with easier wavedashing and auto L-cancel
story mode has been added that’s fairly interesting with roguelite elements
crossplatform multiplayer with ranked, unranked, and custom lobbies
training mode that gives you some actually useful information

The not-so-good:

not everyone has returned from the original game
bland arcade mode
characters sometimes clip through the stage depending on how they’re attacked
a softlock may occur while waiting on the loading screen for a ranked online match
only three skins for each character, and a fourth is locked behind a DLC paywall
headache-inducing screen tearing if you connect the Deck to an external monitor
no Steam cloud support

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is available on Steam for $50.

Review key provided by Sandbox Strategies.

UPERFECT UGame K118 - A Nice Portable Monitor

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 17:12:27 +0000

Uperfect – a company that specializes in making portable monitors – got in touch and asked if I wanted to take one of their monitors for a spin. For this particular review, they sent the UGame K118.

Box Contents and Specs

The specs for this gaming monitor are pretty impressive. Measuring 18 inches and weighing at just a little over two pounds, the display supports up to 144 Hz via USB-C (only up to 120 Hz through HDMI) and boasts a resolution of 2560 x 1600. It also supports Freesync, giving gamers an edge to increased framerates. It also supports HDR, sRGB and DCR. (Touch is not supported.)

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As far as I/O, here’s what it’s got:

two USB-C ports
one mini HDMI port
headphone jack
volume rocker
speakers on both ends of the monitor
VESA mount on the back

And here’s what you get with the box, aside from the monitor itself:

two USB-C to USB-C cables
one mini HDMI cable
30 W power brick with a detachable USB-C connection
magnetic cover
instruction manual

General Use

For the case, you can fold this up on the go to keep the screen protected, then unfold it and attach the monitor to the magnet to make it act like a kickstand. From the two little crevices at the bottom of the cover, you can position the monitor at a higher angle or a lower one.

To power on the display, simply connect one of the provided USB-C cables from your device to the monitor. The display’s built-in speakers should work out of the box. In most cases the power delivery should be efficient enough, but you may want to connect the supplied power brick to provide additional power. In the case of the Steam Deck, while it’s possible to use the display without a power brick, you won’t be able to increase the brightness to a value higher than 2. If you try to increase the brightness above this, the display will temporarily turn off and reset back to the default settings, since the Steam Deck doesn’t provide enough power. Once you attach the power brick to the monitor, you can freely increase the brightness up to 10 without any issues, while simultaneously charging the device that’s connected (or the battery consumption will decrease at a slower rate if the power brick doesn’t supply enough power).

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A great thing about the display is you can rotate it upside-down. The reason why you may want to do this, is so you can position the I/O to the opposite side. So, say for example the I/O on the left is cumbersome to get to with the cables. You can rotate the display 180 degrees, then turn the monitor upside down. Now the I/O will be on the right, giving you easier access to them depending on where your cables are at.

Display Options

Pressing the volume knob brings up a menu on the lower-right corner of the screen. From here, you can do the following:

adjust the brightness and/or contrast, from 1 to 10
change the color environment, such as Movie, Game, or Vivid
turn dynamic contrast ratio (DCR) on or off
adjust picture sharpness
change the color temperature, from 9300k, 6500k, sRGB, or a manually-adjusted RGB value
adjust hue, saturation, and low blue light levels
turn Freesync on or off
adjust volume from 1 to 10, or mute it completely
change language: 10 different languages are supported, including Italian and Spanish
rotate the display 180 degrees
turn HDR off, auto, or “2084”
change aspect ratio to 16:9 or 16:10, or auto
change PCM from native to sRGB to Adobe to User
change input
reset everything to factory settings

The volume can also be adjusted simply by moving the knob up or down.

Menu options can be navigated with the knob. Entering a submenu requires pressing the knob down again. Holding the knob down will go back.

Available color environments (what’s referred to as “ECO” in the menu) are Standard, Game, Movie, Photo, and Vivid. Each preset provides a different set of colors depending on the environment you’re in. It’s sort of difficult to explain the differences on paper, so I’ll just show you a clip of the different presets so you can get an idea. I personally prefer the Movie preset as it’s pretty rich in color. The Game preset is surprisingly a little washed out.

In case you’re not familiar with dynamic contrast ratio (DCR), what this does – as the term suggests – is it dynamically adjusts the contrast of the screen depending on what’s on it. Dark areas in a game will be darker, and brighter areas warmer. Both the “Brightness” and “Contrast” sliders in the menu will be greyed out, as DCR will take care of this for you.

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For gaming, it does make the experience a little more surreal. However, I don’t recommend it for everyday use outside of gaming, as with desktop browsing, the screen is way too dim, especially if most of the applications you use have a dark theme. Even while gaming, the brightness/contrast may adjust a little too quickly for your eye to catch up with. I’d suggest using DCR with caution. In some cases it will work great while gaming. Other times the screen may be too dim, or the color adjusts too quickly and can result in eye strain.

By default, the Sharpness slider is set to a value of 3. It can go from 1 to 4. In my testing I haven’t really noticed any difference in “sharpness” quality when adjusting this.

For color temperature, you can manually set it yourself with “User” mode. By default R, G, and B are set to 50. These values can be adjusted anywhere from 0 to 100. Alternatively you can use the sRGB preset, 6500k, or 9300k. As with the color presets, this one is also difficult to explain in words, but let’s just say sRGB has the best color temperature. 9300k is a little bit on the “cooler” side, as the color has a slightly blue hue to it, while 6500k…yeah, I’m not really sure how to describe this one.

Hue, when maximized to 10, makes the screen more green in color, whereas setting down to 0 makes it more magenta. Setting it to the default value of 5 balances between the two. Saturation is pretty self-explanatory – the higher the value, the more saturated the color is. Setting it all the way down to 0 makes the screen black and white.

Adjusting the low blue light makes the display more yellow-ish in color. While I haven’t tested this extensively at night to see if this is a setting even worth messing around with, I will say the max value of 10 is a little too yellow. You’d probably be better off setting it somewhere to 5 for a good balance of a little bit of yellow without too much color variance.

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Now here’s a nice feature with this monitor: Freesync. After turning this on from the menu, you can then toggle VRR on from the Quick Access Menu on the Steam Deck. This will give a nice boon in terms of framerates. The framerate boost will vary depending on the game you’re playing and how demanding it is, but the difference is definitely noticeable regardless. On average I’m seeing at least a 10 FPS boost, sometimes 20.

As for HDR, there’s Off, Auto, and 2084. I don’t recommend setting it to 2084. The screen becomes dark, and the only thing you can adjust is sharpness. You can’t control the brightness, contrast, color temperature, etc.

Issues

I’m not exactly fond of the little ridge that’s in the middle of the knob – if you press this repeatedly, you’re going to feel some discomfort in the flesh of your finger. I kind of wish they just added a couple of extra buttons to navigate the menu to avoid this discomfort.

The 30W power brick isn’t powerful enough to charge the Steam Deck. While the display won’t shut itself off from not getting enough power, it won’t charge the Deck – it will just go at a slower discharge rate. So I’ve had to use the Deck’s 45 W power brick to supply power to the monitor while being able to charge the Deck at the same time.

Here’s another weird thing. Let’s say I wanted to connect a USB-C dock to my Deck. If I want to use any of the ports on the dock, while keeping the external display on, I have to do this:

Connect the mini HDMI cable from the dock to the display.
Connect the Deck’s power brick from the wall outlet to one of the monitor’s USB-C ports.
Connect a USB-C cable from the dock to the monitor.

It probably sounds convoluted. And while on paper everything “just works,” I get random issues with the display turning itself off temporarily, then back on. At times the random turning on and off of the screen happens so often that it gives me a headache. Perhaps the Deck’s power brick isn’t giving enough juice to the display while I have all those cables connected to the USB-C dock.

At the same time, VRR sometimes gets greyed out in Steam’s QAM. I’m not sure why this is happening. Getting the toggle to not grey out requires restarting the Deck and re-connecting all the cables, and even then, it may require doing it multiple times.

As I had mentioned earlier, DCR can be a little bit of a headache due to the brightness/contrast changing too quickly, or not being bright enough.

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While not necessarily a complaint, it would have been nice to include touch functionality to the screen.

The built-in speakers are meh. They do what they’re supposed to do, but even at the highest volume they’re not that loud. And the sound quality, while not terrible, isn’t spectacular either.

Worth It

I must say, this is a really nice monitor. The carrying case it comes with doubles as a built-in stand with two adjustable viewing angles. The VESA mount on the back allows you to mount it to a stand (and maybe even attach it to the Deck so you have a huge Nintendo DS-like setup?). Cables can go in either direction thanks to being able to rotate the monitor and display upside down. Freesync, HDR, 144 Hz refresh rate, high resolution, and a plethora of options to adjust the colors on the screen are a nice plus.

The downsides to this monitor are the ridge of the volume knob to access the menu, which can hurt your finger after pressing it repeatedly; a power brick that may not supply enough power to charge your device; subpar speakers; lack of touch functionality; constant display flickering when you have a dock connected to your device; and VRR sometimes disappearing from the Steam Deck’s QAM. Additionally, while DCR might be a nice feature, this can be a bit of a nuisance to your eye if the brightness/contrasts changes too quickly, and at times the picture may be too dark.

All in all, though, the advantages definitely outweigh the bad. It’s a great monitor to bring with you on the go, and in most cases you won’t even need to use a power supply.

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TL;DR

The good:

144 Hz refresh rate, 1600p resolution
built-in speakers
nice carrying case that doubles as a stand
VESA mount
Freesync, HDR, and DCR support
a wide variety of color temperatures and modes to choose from
depending on the computer you connect and your needs, you may not need a power supply
display/monitor can be rotated upside down, to put the I/O on the other side

The not-so-good:

speakers aren’t very loud and aren’t that great in terms of quality
your finger can get sore from pressing the volume knob too much
no touch functionality
display can randomly flicker on and off when a USB-C dock is connected to the computer
VRR sometimes becomes greyed out from the QAM
supplied power brick is only 30 W; this may not charge your device
DCR is hit-or-miss; it can be an eye sore or too dark

The Uperfect UGame K118 is available on the official website for $280. Here are some discount codes:

LINUX20，$20 off for order amount above $100
LINUX30，$30 off for order amount above $200
LINUX40，$40 off for order amount above $300

Note: the product links in this article are affiliate links. I will earn a small commission with every purchase at no additional cost to you.

Lenovo Legion Go - Can it Linux?

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 17:16:32 +0000

After picking up a 512 GB Legion Go from Micro Center on Tuesday, naturally I wanted to see how well the device would perform with Linux. For this, I went with ChimeraOS – the closest distro that’s going to give you that SteamOS-like experience.

Installation

First, to boot any external media, you’ll need to disable Secure Boot. To do this, hold the Volume+ button while turning the device on. Tap “BIOS Setup” from the dropdown menu. Tap “More Settings”. Tap the Security tab and scroll down to Secure Boot. Disable it from the dropdown menu. Exit saving changes from the Exit tab.

Shut the console off. Turn it back on with the Volume+ button held down. Tap “Boot Menu” and select your flashed media to boot from it.

The installation went just fine (albeit you’ll have to tilt your head slightly due to the way the text is oriented). You’ll need to connect a keyboard, either to a USB-C dock or directly if your keyboard supports that type, to navigate through the options. Wi-Fi was picked up out-of-the-box, so I could connect to my local network and download the latest ChimeraOS image (which, at the time of writing this, is 44-1).

Fix For Rotated Display and Missing Controls

After installation, the speakers worked just fine, including the volume controls. No need to override the DSDTs as users once had to do with the ROG Ally. Bluetooth, brightness controls, and the touchscreen also worked.

Two caveats, however. One, the display is rotated upside down.

Two, the controls on the joycons don’t work, unless you put them into D-input mode by holding the Legion L button and the right shoulder button for one second. Or by detaching one joycon and holding it sideways (the Legion Go switches to Dual D-input mode when you do this).

Fortunately, both of these issues have been fixed very quickly, thanks to ChimeraOS dev Matthew Anderson and Nobara Project founder GloriousEggroll (GE contributed the changes to Nobara Project and these have been upstreamed to ChimeraOS unstable). By opting into the “unstable” ChimeraOS branch, both of these issues are solved.

To opt into the unstable branch, while your keyboard is still connected, press CTRL + ALT + F2 to access a terminal. Login with username “gamer” and password “gamer”. Enter this:

sudo frzr-deploy chimeraos/chimeraos:unstable

Enter “gamer” again when prompted for the sudo password. ChimeraOS will download the unstable build. When finished, the console should reboot.

Alternatively, you can do the same thing within Steam’s interface:

Tap the Steam icon on the screen to access the Steam menu.
Select “Settings”. Under System, enable developer mode with the appropriate toggle.
Scroll down to the new “Developer” tab on the left. Scroll down to “Show Advanced Update Channels” and toggle this on.
Go back to the System tab. Under the “OS Update Channel” dropdown menu, select “unstable”.
Tap “Check for Updates” to download and install the unstable build. Restart when finished.

Bam. Now the screen is properly rotated, and the joycons now work with the default X-input mode. A udev rule was added to make this work “until we have real patches.” Vibration should work as well, and you can adjust the strength by holding the Legion L button and the Up or Down directions on the D-pad.

As a side note, most plugins with Decky Loader have worked based on my testing so far, as well as CryoUtilities and EmuDeck (yes, of course I would test to see if Slippi would run directly through Steam BPM, and it did).

Remaining Issues and Workarounds

A few hiccups – many of which are minor – remain for now:

you can’t map the Guide or QAM buttons to any of the extra buttons on the joycons
while you can move the mouse cursor around with the touchpad, it won’t register any mouse clicks
no gyro support
TDP controls can’t be adjusted via software
toggling Night Mode or adjusting the color temperature doesn’t do anything
the option to enable adaptive brightness is greyed out
pressing the power button doesn’t suspend the device – while it turns the screen off, the battery is still consumed quite heavily
no way to turn off the LEDs around the sticks, as far as I know
the battery icon may say “full” all the time even though it actually isn’t – you can see the real percentage left with MangoHUD
sometimes the screen may white out entirely – or parts of it will flicker – when you access Steam while a game is running

I’ve found a temporary workaround for most of these issues. For the Guide button, you can remap it to any of the working buttons, but you will lose functionality for that button. For instance, I’ve mapped the Guide button to D-pad Up – but now I can’t use D-pad Up for what it normally does, if that makes sense. You can remap the controls by going to Steam -> Settings -> Controller -> Test Device Inputs -> Setup Device Inputs.

As for TDP controls, you actually can adjust them through the hardware itself by switching thermal modes. Observe the color of the power LED. You can switch colors by holding Legion L + Y. Each time you press this combination, you change the performance mode:

quiet: blue LED; uses about 8 W
balanced: white LED; uses about 15 W
performance: red LED; uses about 20 W
custom: purple LED; uses anywhere from 5-30 W; although at default it seems to be around 20 W

You can use this to adjust how much performance you want in your games versus how much battery life you want to conserve and how loud you want the fans to get. As far as I know, there isn’t a way to adjust the watt usage in Custom mode.

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For gyro, I know it’s not the greatest solution but if you’re playing a first-person shooter you can switch the right joycon to FPS mode. This controller will turn into a mouse (there’s an IR sensor at the bottom of the joycon). From there you can put the joycon in the magnetic stand that’s provided with the case and put it on a table. Then you can move the joycon around like a mouse. Pretty neat! I’m not sure if you can remap any of the buttons though.

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(Yes, I know, I need some practice with this mode.)

You can still put the Legion Go to sleep. Instead of pressing the power button directly, just access Steam’s menu -> Power -> Sleep. It works as expected, and turning the device back on will go right to where it was before it went to sleep, without much battery lost.

Those are all the notes I have for now. Overall it’s been a pretty good experience so far. And I’m sure in due time a lot more of the remaining issues will be fixed. In the meantime, let me know in the comments if you’d like to see a full, hands-on review of the Legion Go itself.

The Invincible Review

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 16:41:09 +0000

I never played Death Stranding. But I’ve heard some people jokingly refer to it as a walking simulator.

The Invincible, in a nutshell, is more or less the same thing. Set in first-person, you’re in control of astrobiologist Yasna. You and your crew arrive on the planet Regis III. However, things turn sour pretty quickly, as most of your crew is lost. Your goal is to try and find these lost team members and see if they survived or not. Mostly you’re in isolation, as the planet – with design inspired by 1950s illustrations of what the future might be – is desolate, and the only person that’s helping to keep your sanity intact is Novik, who Yasna refers to as “the Astrogator.” Novik communicates to her via the telecom that’s attached to her helmet. Yasna will regularly report on what she discovers to him along her journey.

The game – inspired by the novel with the same name, written by Polish futurologist Stanisław Lem – is developed by Starward Industries and published by 11 Bit Studios. It’s the first game developed by the team, but it is composed of 30+ individuals who have previously worked on such titles as Dying Light, Layer of Fear 2, and The Witcher 3.

See, this is one of those games where it’s difficult to talk about the story without getting into spoilers. And believe me, the review guide I was supplied with was very specific about what I can and can’t talk about, so I don’t ruin the story for those who might be interested in trying this game out. Let’s just put it this way: as I had mentioned earlier, the game is set in first-person. There might be a big threat to humanity’s survival. The planet, Regis III, kind of looks like Mars. And there’s a lot of walking. After walking for a bit, you’ll come across areas of interest. Robots. Bases where there may or may not be a dead body. Maps of undiscovered locations. Letters. Lost crew members. Lots of back-and-forth talking between Yasna and Novik with an accent. Maybe an opposing faction. You get the idea.

Along her journey, Yasna will make use of her map to keep track of where she’s located and where she needs to go next. She can also make use of a tracker that will help her pinpoint a particular area of interest. Her detector will assist in finding unnatural traces of metal that are “growing” in the rocks and crevices of the canyons she explores. Binoculars will allow her to see things from afar and report to Novik what she’s observing.

The game is pretty casual and story-rich, with some subtle horror elements, depending on the decisions you make. There will be a lot of situations in which you can choose what Yasna will say to Novik or other NPCs that she may come across. Sometimes the time you are given to choose a response is limited. Other times you have no choice but to choose a response – which, in turn, will affect Yasna’s outcome for the good or bad. You might even temporarily lose contact with Novik, thus leaving Yasma with less and less of her sanity intact, as she won’t have a single human being to talk to.

I would have been fine with the constant walking if she could just sprint as long as she could. When she sprints, she’ll only do so for about ten seconds, and then she starts panting and stops running. You’ll see her breath emanate on her helmet. While it’s a pretty neat effect, after a while it just gets annoying. There are big distances to cross on her bare feet, and it would make the constant walking a little easier to bare if she could just sprint indefinitely. I suppose there had to be at least some realism to this game. Later on you’ll come across vehicles to use, so, it’s not all that bad, I guess.

The game takes about 5-6 hours to finish. I’m not going to lie, there are some parts to the story where it gets a bit dry and there’s mostly talking without any action. Yasna will have occasional flashbacks, and while some of these can be boring as well, thankfully you can skip them. Other times the story gets more interesting. She might have hallucinations. She might have a machine pointing a laser right at her. She might only have one final, thin strand left before she loses hope and gives up on her search for her crew members – and maybe even her own life.

I think I’ve spoiled enough of the story as is. So, I’ll stop here. Overall it’s not that bad of a game, but I kind of feel like this could have just been a movie adaptation instead of a video game. While there are decisions to make that can affect Yasna’s outcome, the game is still casual enough. There are some interesting plots along the way, but I feel like there could have been more interesting moments. Like, less talking, less walking, and more action.

Steam Deck Compatibility

No issues as far as Steam Deck compatibility. It runs out-of-the-box with Proton 8.0-4. All cutscenes are rendered inside Unreal 4, so there are no video playback issues. FPS generally hovers around 40-50 on the highest settings at native resolution when there isn’t a TDP or GPU clock speed limit. Resolution can be set all the way down to 1024 x 768, but the image is going to be a bit blurry.

Not Bad If You Want A Casual Game

If you want to take a break from the Souls-like games out there, and want to pick something up that you can play casually and unwind from the stress of the day while listening to an interesting story, The Invincible isn’t a bad choice. I’m not a fan of the constant walking, and there are some moments in the game that are a bit dull and could have been filled with more action instead of talking. And the exploration wouldn’t be as much of a chore if Yasna could just sprint indefinitely. Still, there are more good moments than bad. You might even get on the edge of your seat a few times. So I still do think it’s worth picking up.

TL;DR

The good:

story-rich with different choices to make
the game should keep you interested enough until you reach the epilogue
great if you’re looking for a casual game that’s purely focused on story-telling

The not-so-good:

some dull moments where there’s too much talking and not enough action
sprinting is only temporary and would make exploring easier if it could last forever

The Invincible will be available on Steam November 6th. In the meantime you can try out the demo if you want to get a taste of the story.

Review key provided by Evolve PR.

Another Interview With Alesh Slovak - ChimeraOS Founder

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 14:14:49 +0000

About 18 months ago I had interviewed Alesh Slovak, the founder of the fantastic ChimeraOS distribution that turns whatever device you own into a console. And, because I like the guy and his crew so darn much, I wanted to interview him again to see where things are currently standing with the development of the distro. Particularly when it comes to supporting all these new handhelds that have been a struggle keeping track of.

You’ll also discover in this interview what ChimeraOS needs help with the most, what makes the team satisfied when their hard work gets put to use, and some upcoming features to look forward to, including the ability to insert physical media and make the game run through the distribution.

TL;DR

Alesh usually works on the Chimera web app or reverse-engineering Steam to make ChimeraOS work with it, if he’s not “trying to keep on top of things”
favorite programming language is JavaScript “because of how easy it is to ingest and manipulate data”. The Chimera web app is partially written in said language
may one day release a game on Steam
Aya Neo 2: “high resolution screens completely kill performance on handhelds”
TDP controls are missing on ChimeraOS on Steam Deck, so it is recommended to stick with SteamOS
eight core team members, 10 testers, and 34 contributors
frustrating development aspect: constant regression fixing takes time away from working on new features. On the other hand, it’s gratifying seeing people enjoy using ChimeraOS
supporting handhelds: “the trickiest part is trying to add support for hardware that we don’t have on hand”
winesapOS: “an interesting project.” Luke Short, the founder, contributed some work to ChimeraOS
favorite handheld: the Steam Deck, since it has the best performance at native resolution, best controls and feel
what the team needs help with: more testers
things to look forward to: OOTB TDP controls, and the ability to run physical Gameboy cartridges
Alesh would like to thank the core team members, contributors, and testers, as without them “ChimeraOS wouldn’t be even half of what it is”

Image credit: Ars Technica

As founder of the project, what do you primarily work on?

It is hard to pin it down exactly. I work on a lot of different things. Half the battle at this point is just trying to keep on top of things and understand what everyone else is working on so I can figure out a release plan.

When I am actually working on features it is usually related to the Chimera web app, the OS update system, or reverse engineering Steam in order to integrate with it or fix issues caused by changes in Steam client updates.

Otherwise, I do a lot of testing to make sure every aspect of the OS is working for each release. It can get quite tedious and time consuming at times.

Really, I work on whatever is needed at the time and things I understand well enough to dive in and fix. I used to know and understand every aspect of ChimeraOS, but not so much anymore. Good thing we have all those awesome contributors!

What language is ChimeraOS primarily developed in? What other programming languages are you familiar with? Is there one in particular that’s your favorite?

ChimeraOS itself is mostly just a bunch of shell scripts and configuration files. The Chimera web app is written in Python and JavaScript.

My favourite language is JavaScript because of how easy it is ingest and manipulate data and the fact that it runs in web browsers is great as that is essentially the modern application platform.

Image credit: ChimeraOS Twitter

I would have preferred to use NodeJS/Javascript for the Chimera web app, but that would have introduced a large amount of dependencies and made the OS install size larger. Instead, I used Python which is already included in the OS.

Have you ever dabbled with game development before?

I have dabbled in game development before, but nothing serious. I have done quite a few game jams over the years, but nothing recently.

Ever since I was a kid I have wanted to make games and it is the reason I became so interested in computers and programming. One day I would like to release a game on Steam. I have recently been inspired to get back into game development, so who knows, maybe one day I might actually release something.

Looks like you have an Aya Neo 2. What are your thoughts on the device?

The Aya Neo 2 shares a fatal flaw with a lot of new devices: a very high resolution screen. The marketing people love bigger numbers, but high resolution screens completely kill performance on handhelds and I don’t understand the trend of including them. On top of this the Aya Neo 2 also appears to have a bug where it is not possible to change to a lower resolution.

Image credit: ChimeraOS Twitter

The buttons are also rather low quality and tend to stick. The device itself is quite comfortable to hold though and the screen does look really nice if you ignore the performance concerns.

On the whole I prefer the Steam Deck and don’t use the Aya Neo 2 for anything other than testing and development of ChimeraOS.

SteamOS will definitely give you the best experience on the Steam Deck. There are still a few things missing in ChimeraOS, such as TDP controls. I personally recommend sticking with SteamOS on your Steam Deck unless there is a specific reason you want ChimeraOS. I run SteamOS on my Deck as the primary OS, but mostly as a way to keep up with any changes to SteamOS.

Image credit: ChimeraOS Twitter

Last year you told me there are about three or four active contributors to ChimeraOS, with a few that come in here and there for one-off fixes/changes. Have more people come on board to help contribute to the project?

Yes! We have had a few more folks join. There are now 8 core team members, 10 testers, and 34 contributors on the Discord server according to the assigned roles. Contributors can become core team members if we see consistent contributions, a core team member nominates them, and a vote passes.

We have also formalized things a bit and I have relinquished much of my power in favour of voting on decisions by the core team members.

This has proven to be a double-edged sword. It is good to have everyone’s input and opinion, but sometimes it is difficult to make the most trivial of decisions. A while back I wanted to change the slogan on our website, but we couldn’t come to a consensus and I gave up, lol.

In any case, the project is doing well, and things are moving along even when I don’t have time to focus on it, which is great for both myself and the community as I am no longer a bottle-neck.

What are some of the more frustrating aspects when it comes to development of the distro? On the other hand, what are some aspects that are gratifying?

Recently it seems we are always in panic mode. There is always some regression we are trying to track down, usually from the kernel or mesa, but sometimes of our own making. This leaves little time to work on and improve the ChimeraOS specific value-adds such as the Chimera web app.

The most gratifying thing is hearing from users about how they are enjoying ChimeraOS and seeing YouTube videos featuring our work.

As PC handheld gaming is becoming more and more prolific, how has the development process been as far as supporting handhelds with ChimeraOS? Has it been a struggle to keep up?

The trickiest part is trying to add support for hardware that we don’t have on hand. If a technical enough user happens by and has the hardware we can sometimes guide them to getting the answers we need, but often we just have to wait.

If the issue is something common, such as screen rotation, it can be very easy to fix even without access to hardware. However, if the issue is something novel, like say the problems with the ROG Ally speakers, it can be difficult even with hardware on hand.

There are still handhelds out there that have poor support, such as the new OneXPlayer models that still have speaker troubles.

Thoughts on winesapOS?

I have never used it, but it seems like an interesting project with a very different goal and approach. It appears to be focused on Apple hardware, which I am not personally interested in.

Image credit: Luke Short

Luke, the winesapOS founder, joined us for our anniversary event in August and recently contributed some work to ChimeraOS. It is great to have him around. Thanks Luke!

Out of all the handhelds you own, which is your favorite, and why?

Definitely the Steam Deck. It easily has the best performance at native resolution of any handheld I own, and has the best controls and feel overall, even if there are things I don’t like such as the extremely slippery thumbsticks and the difficult to use back buttons.

What areas in particular does ChimeraOS need help with?

Testing! There are often very few of us doing testing the release candidates. There always seems to be some new issue that crops up on some particular hardware that none of the developers own. Getting more folks helping with testing would help catch those issues earlier.

What are some things we can look forward to with the next version of Chimera? Any ambitious plans for the future?

There are always things brewing. One of the big things is our plan to switch to the Steam + OpenGamepadUI overlay session by default so that we can provide working TDP controls (among other things) out of the box.

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I am also excited about a feature which will allow you to run GameBoy carts directly using the GB Operator.

I would like to give a shout out to all the core team members, contributors, and testers. ChimeraOS wouldn’t be even half of what it is without all of you! Thank you so much!

Also, I finally recently organized all my handhelds, controllers and other hardware for ChimeraOS development, check it out.

Image credit: Alesh

For more information regarding ChimeraOS, check out my review from earlier this year, or visit the official website.

Steam Deck Client Update Allows You to See Shader Cache Size, Adds Low Latency Option for Streaming

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 06:01:38 +0000

It’s been nearly six weeks since the last stable Steam Deck client update. A fresh update arrived for all users a few hours ago. Let’s go over the changes, fixes, and features. (Note: these screenshots were taken from the “Preview” branch and as such may look slightly different if you’re on the “Stable” branch.)

First, users can now see how much shader cache each installed game takes up from the Storage tab in Settings:

A new option has been added for Remote Play – “Low Latency Networking”. Toggling this on, as the name implies, will reduce latency while streaming, at the expense of bandwidth. Keep in mind you will need to toggle “Enable Advanced Client Options” in the Remote Play tab in order to see this option.

Steam Input got a ton of features and fixes with this update, particularly in the gyro department. Controllers can now be renamed again:

A new experimental gyro mode has been added – “Gyro to Mouse”. This is a renovation of the gyro “As Mouse” mode. More details about this are available in the official patch notes.

Along with this comes another experimental gyro mode – “Gyro to Joystick (Camera)”. This re-uses concepts from the gyro to mouse system, but outputs to joystick instead of mouse. This will eventually replace Gyro -> “As Joystick”.

There’s yet another gyro mode – “Gyro to Joystick (Deflection)”. “This is most appropriate for simulating steering and flight yokes” and will eventually replace Gyro “Joystick”. Both this mode and the “Gyro to Joystick (Camera)” get a “Joystick Power Curve” slider to “counteract the response curve that many games employ for better precision.”

A “World Space” experimental gyro conversion mode has been added, which “feels similar to using a laser pointer.”

The Steam Input UI gets ‘minor tidying,’ support for the PowerA Switch Nano Wired controller has been added, and the Stadia controller can now have the capture button binded.

Finally, there are plenty – and I mean plenty – of fixes for Remote Play, Steam Input, Desktop Mode, and Steam Community. The word “fix” shows up 40 times in the patch notes, ranging from DLC art displaying in the wrong language, the Discovery Queue background color, audio crackling while streaming, the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro DualSense gyro, the “Player Space” gyro conversion mode, DS4 autocalibration, resize grip showing sometimes when windows are maximized, and the friend profile message button.

See the full patch notes on Steam.

PowerWash Simulator: Wash Your Stress Away?

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 14:48:49 +0000

I’ve done powerwashing in real life. My neighbor does it as a part-time hobby, my friend does it as part of his window washing business. In PowerWash Simulator, the game is basically as the title suggests – it tries to replicate the experience of powerwashing. And for the most part, it does it right – albeit for the part where you need to have a gas-powered machine in order to get any use out of your nozzle.

Apparently this game caught the attention of Square Enix. Enough to the point where they became a publisher. But apparently not enough interest was shown to get rid of the “Made with Unity” splash screen that shows up when you first boot the game. Although, I will say there are some Tomb Raider- and Final Fantasy VII-themed locales for you to clean, which is pretty neat.

The game plays in first-person. You start off with a basic washer and clean up your own dirt-filled van. From here, the game teaches you that you’re going to have to clean every nook and cranny in order to mark a specific car part as “clean,” from the tires, the hubcubs, the fender, the windshield, the doors, the door windows, to even the door handle. You’re going to be getting on your hands and knees, trying to clean the underbelly of the tires and the van itself.

From there, you earn money and move on to different jobs, from a giant boot, to a vintage vehicle, to an entire house. Earn enough money and you can purchase additional equipment, from new washers, to new nozzles, to cleaning liquids of specific types, to the color of your gloves. It makes it satisfying as you clean job to job, because there’s always something new to upgrade that will make your next job a little easier. There are ladders and step stools that you can place anywhere in the area, to help you get to the second floor of a building, or to climb to the top of a roof. Common ground stuff that’s normally associated with power washing.

Each washer comes with a 0 degree nozzle, a 15 degree nozzle, a 25 degree nozzle, and a 40 degree nozzle. The wider the nozzle, the more area the washer covers, at the expense of needing to get closer to the affected area and having to go over the same area a few times to make sure the dirt is fully off. A spinning 0 degree nozzle can be purchased at the shop, or a 65 degree one that’s designed for use with a cleaning liquid. The 65-degree nozzle is great for covering a wide area in a short amount of time, but you’ll need to have the right type of cleaning liquid, and these can drain pretty quickly. You’ll have to buy some more from the shop.

Nozzles can be swapped on the fly with the left and right bumpers, or you can use a wheel menu to choose a specific one. If you’re feeling finger fatigue from holding the right trigger down so long for spraying the water, you can actually press left on the D-pad and the washer will keep spraying on its own. Pressing right on the D-pad will highlight remaining areas of dirt, helping you to ensure that wall is fully cleaned up. You can also press up on the D-pad to enter a free aim mode where your character stands still, but you can aim your washer anywhere on the screen. So, you’ve definitely got the nine yards covered when it comes to cleaning options.

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As you progress in the story, you’ll get these text messages from the customers you work with. Some of them are pretty funny. Others are more serious and suggest you should change your business name, since apparently you don’t use hot water. Either way, it’s a pretty good way to keep yourself entertained as you’re washing. No background music is accomodated with this game, so it’s perfect to listen to podcasts or the like as you’re cleaning.

The great thing is, you’re not strapped on time. You can take as long as you like with each job. There is a challenge mode where you can test how quickly you can clean a locale, or use as little water as possible, but otherwise, just sit back, relax, and take your time washing.

Steam Deck Compatibility

The game is marked as Verified. But be warned. The game does hover around 60 FPS in most cases, even with the TDP and GPU clock speed tuned down on high settings, but when you start washing specific areas, the framerate dips to as low as 30. I recommend keeping the TDP and GPU clock speed limit disabled, in order to avoid the hiccup that occurs when the washer is being sprayed.

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Otherwise, it’s actually quite fun using the Deck’s gyro and moving it around, as if I were holding an actual hose.

De-Stress Your Life

At first, playing this game felt like a chore – it felt like I was just doing a job. The more I played it, however, the more…oddly satisfying it felt. It does give you a good feeling of satisfaction seeing a once obliterated house now sparkly clean. I haven’t tried but apparently you can get your friends in on the action too with online co-op. Nice. I even recall reading a Steam review where they mentioned the game “washed” their suicidal feelings away. Another one read “helps the bad thoughts go away.” A third, who put over 200 hours into the game, said “it’s a great way to de-stress after work, or listening to a podcast in the background as you clean various locales.”

So, if you’re looking for a game that will wash your depression or stress away, PowerWash Simulator is a great choice.

TL;DR

The good:

stress reliever seeing once dirty substances now clean
great for listening to podcasts while cleaning
customers have different personalities and will keep you entertained while you clean
plenty of washers, nozzles, and other equipment to unlock and purchase, to make your next job easier
take your time, there’s no rush

The not-so-good:

none so far!

PowerWash Simulator is available on Steam for $25.

Review key provided by Keymailer.

New PC Gaming Handheld Features Intel Meteor Lake CPU with Arc 5 Graphics

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 16:44:13 +0000

Normally, when a new PC gaming handheld is announced, it’s powered by an AMD processor. Not so much the case with the Emdoor EM-GP080MTL. A company that specializes in making rugged devices for industrial use, they’ve now entered the handheld gaming market with their new device that sports Intel’s latest family of CPUs: Meteor Lake-H. Capable of 20-35 W, the processor also integrates Arc graphics 5.

The resolution of the device will be 1920 x 1200 at 16:10. The screen itself will be 8 inches. Up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X of RAM is supported, and a full 2280 PCIe NVMe drive can be put in, up to 2 TB. No word yet as far as when the device will be available or what it will be priced at.

Meteor Lake, paired with XeSS, seems to provide a “perfectly playable” experience without a discrete GPU. Notebook Italia had a video showcasing the handheld, but unfortunately it looks like they quickly marked the video as private, as it can no longer be played. PC Gamer noted the video was running God of War and mentioned “Meteor Lake is ready to give AMD a run for its money.”

I’ve been keeping tabs with how far Intel has been pushing updates to their Arc GPUs. Seems like with every kernel or Mesa update is some kind of performance improvement with Intel’s graphics drivers. So, I’m actually sort of curious to see how this Emdoor handheld will keep up with the competition.

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Burnout Paradise Remastered, Supports Two New Flightsticks

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 04:23:34 +0000

Yesterday a new update was pushed out to Proton Experimental. Another game is now playable: Burnout Paradise Remastered. Two more flightsticks are now supported “when hidraw is accessible”: the Virpil Constellation ALPHA-R and the VKB Gladiator NXT EVO.

The rest of the update is bug fixes for Mighty Switch Force! Collection, Forza Horizon 5, Cyberpunk 2077 when a DualSense is connected, Aveyond 4: Shadow of the Mist, and games that may not properly run on systems with 128+ virtual cores.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 Gets Offline Fix - But Only for Steam Deck

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 04:07:59 +0000

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, which arrived on Steam earlier this month after being a long-time EGS exclusive, and which also got a fix with last week’s Proton Experimental update, got a patch a few days ago. Users can now play the game without having to connect to the Internet. Oddly enough, however, desktop users will not benefit from this update.

Don’t quote me on this, but I believe you can bypass the Steam Deck restriction on desktop by passing in the -steamdeck parameter in the game’s launch options. That may not be the exact wording of the command, but there should be a command that makes the game think you own a Steam Deck (DuckDuckGo isn’t giving me much for results, but I do know there’s a command out there).

Along with the update, the OSK should now work properly on Deck.

See the patch notes here, and the game on Steam.

Undervolting the Steam Deck: Is It Worth It?

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 18:29:40 +0000

Last week’s SteamOS 3.5.1 preview update added undervolting controls with the updated firmware via the BIOS. Undervolting the Deck was already possible with a tool like the Smokeless UMAF BIOS flasher, but now it’s been made even easier. Simply access the Deck’s BIOS by holding the Volume Up button when turning it on, going to Setup Utility, and adjusting the appropriate options under the “Advanced” tab. Of course, you’ll currently need to be opted into the “Preview” branch on Steam in the System Settings tab in order to have access to these controls.

The following components can be undervolted, all the way down to -50mV:

Supposedly, undervolting the Deck means increased battery life, while still retaining the same performance. It also results in a slightly cooler CPU and GPU temperature. I tried to put this theory to the test by running a few games with the Deck at stock voltage, and at a lower voltage rate. I got mixed results. In some cases, the Deck did get a slightly longer-lasting battery. In other cases, however, the battery was even shorter.

Note that, in most cases, you’re not going to want to go all the way down to -50mV. I did so myself and discovered my games experienced random crashing. After the Deck rebooted, I started noticing visual artifacts in the Heroic Games Launcher. So, I bumped everything up to -40mV, and haven’t noticed any issues so far.

In your case, you’re going to just need to be patient and gradually lower each value by -10mV, until you actually start to notice the random game crashing or the visual artifacting. Each Deck is different, due to the “silicon lottery.” So keep at it until you find the right values.

Note that, in the event your Deck will no longer boot, you can reset the CMOS to the default settings. With the Deck off, hold down the Volume Down button, the QAM button, and the power button. This should reset the voltage settings back to 0mV.

Test Results

The first game I tested was Witchfire. Settings are as follows:

1152 x 720 resolution, upscaled with NIS set to a sharpness value of 5
Medium graphics settings
50% brightness and audio volume
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off
12 W TDP
1200 MHz max GPU clock speed
Proton 8.0-4
refresh rate set to 40 Hz
8 GB swap with swap tendancy set to 50
4 GB UMA frame buffer size

On stock voltage the Deck lasted two hours and 10 minutes. In the same area in the game, with everything undervolted to -40mV, the game lasted ten minutes longer at two hours and 20 minutes. The GPU was one degree cooler, and the CPU two degrees cooler. Battery consumption is one watt less, and the fan speed is slightly slower by about 200 RPMs. So, in that case, the undervoltage was a winner.

(Note: you may want to open the image in a new tab to get a better glimpse of the stats.)

However, things were a little different when I tested Fraymakers, a native 2D Linux title. Settings were as follows:

native resolution
50% brightness and audio volume
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off
3 W TDP
200 MHz max GPU clock speed
FPS set to 60
8 GB swap with swap tendancy set to 50
4 GB UMA frame buffer size

With stock voltage, the game lasted six hours and 33 minutes. With undervolting applied, the battery lasted six hours and 21 minutes. The CPU and GPU were significantly cooler by nearly ten degrees Celcius, but other than that the stats remained largely the same. A bit of a headscratcher there. I’ll need to do some more testing with more games.

Concluding Thoughts…So Far

My testing has been brief so far, but based on these two games, your mileage may vary. Your CPU and GPU temps will go down a bit, that’s for sure. As far as battery life, however, that’s going to depend on the game, and for AAA-quality games, it’s not going to be much of an improvement anyway. Add to that the risk that your Deck may experience random crashing or visual artifacting if you undervolt it too much.

If you’ve done some testing yourself, definitely let me know in the comments your results. I’m curious to see how far the silicon lottery has taken you and whether or not you’ve actually seen any benefits.

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Turbocharged - A Good Game Made Better

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 14:16:53 +0000

A couple of years ago I had reviewed Hot Wheels Unleashed on Boiling Steam. In it I had noted how the game relived my childhood memories of collecting toy cars and race tracks. It’s a great game, for sure, and the successor, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 - Turbocharged, does the same thing, except it does it even better.

So, in case you’re not familiar: Hot Wheels is a toy car brand from Mattel that was introduced in the late 60s. While some of the plastic molds that they make are based on real-life cars, most of them are more fantasy-like in design. And the brand became a massive hit, at least here in the United States. Mattel would then go on to license their franchise to game developers and movie producers. The Hot Wheels Unleased series is just one of many video games that use Hot Wheels cars and environments. And just like they did with the first game, they nailed it spot on with the successor.

As you might have expected, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 - Turbocharged is a racing game, using toy cars that drive in an arcade-y style. The world around you is massive, since your car is tiny. Drive around the race track in someone’s backyard, a mini-golf course, the Wild West, a dinosaur museum, and other environments as you try to compete for first place.

Hot Wheels 2 takes the formula of the first game and expands upon it. Everything that you liked from the original is carried over: the graphics, the race tracks, the physics, boosting on the track, vehicle customization, dubstep music, the ability to make your own race track, you name it. But the second game brings more to the table, with more cars, new environments, new terrain to race across, new game modes, better customization of cars, and more. In addition, some new gameplay mechanics are introduced: strafing and jumping. You can strafe to the left or right to get out of harm’s way, or to push your opponent off track. You can jump up to two times to cross a gap in the track, or to help you find a shortcut. While there’s still no weapons in this game, at least the pushing of other opponents makes the game a little more fun.

Lots of Cars and Car Customization

You can race on the track with more than just standard vehicles: you can also use motorbikes, ATVs, and monster trucks. Some of these vehicles will be better at off-road racing. Others will be able to handle the corners of the track better with more precise drifting. Some are more rare than others. The great thing is, all of these vehicles can have their stats upgraded. Vehicles have the following attributes:

speed
acceleration
braking power
handling

These stats can be upgraded by having enough upgrade kits. So, the vehicle will start off as Stock. One upgrade kit will upgrade the car to Powered, increasing the speed, acceleration, and braking power. Two upgrade kits will upgrade the car to Ultimate, again increasing the speed, acceleration, and braking power. The boost gauge will also increase.

As you upgrade your vehicle, you can also select individual components to upgrade as well, but they come at a cost. For example, the “Maximum Grip” attribute will increase the handling of the car while drifting, at the expense of the boost gauge gain being reduced while drifting. My personal favorite vehicle is the “Bone Shaker Unleashed”. Every stat is just about max, and it drifts very well.

Campaign with a Purpose

The campaign is also back in this game, except there’s a little more backbone to the story with the addition of cutscenes and actually having a purpose for racing on the track: to protect the city from attack from the invading creatures. Frankly there wasn’t much else added to the table in terms of general progression in the campaign. There’s an event you have to clear, such as a race with other cars, a race against the clock, an elimination-style race, reaching a series of checkpoints within a certain amount of time, or to see how well you can drift across the track without hitting the wall. You do well, you get one star. Do exceptionally well, you get two stars. EXP is earned, and when enough EXP is gained, you level up, earning more upgrade kits or in-game currency to buy more vehicles.

After a series of events are cleared, you’ll face the “boss” for that area. You race around the track, hitting a target to reset the gauge. This gauge fills up over time, and if you don’t hit a target within a certain amount of time, the game is over. In my opinion these boss tracks are a bit lackluster. It’s basically just a race where you hit targets. The boss doesn’t actually try to attack you or throw traps in your way. I felt like this game mode could have used a little more spice to make them more interesting.

Multiplayer

Since the game hasn’t officially released yet, I didn’t expect to play against anyone online. But I actually did. I found myself racing against 9 other players. Finished in 3rd. The cool thing is, there’s cross-platform multiplayer between PC and consoles (albeit for the Switch), and I didn’t encounter that many issues playing via Wi-Fi on my Steam Deck.

You can search for a quick race, or find a specific match. You can also host your own private lobby if you have someone else to join you. Great thing is, the local split-screen feature from the original game is still here, so, if you want to have your friends over or play this game with your kids, that’s certainly an option.

Minor Complaints

While I do like the addition of the elimination race mode, I’m not fond of the drifting game mode. Your goal is to drift around the track, racking up your score before you cross the finish line. The longer you can avoid hitting the wall, the more your score will multiply. While I suppose this sort of mode can help you with your drifting skills, I found it a bit frustrating. All too often I hit the wall while going around a corner, thus resetting my score multiplier. It made it a chore just getting one star for it.

Game difficulty – like the original, the “Normal” difficulty can feel a little too easy at times. Sometimes I find myself way ahead of the pack, and this can make the race boring. But “Hard” spikes it a little too much. It can make races frustrating, because if you make just one mistake, you can find yourself eating the dust from your opponents, with no way to catch up with them. I wish there was an in-between difficulty from “Normal” and “Hard” so it would provide a challenge, but not make it frustratingly difficult either.

Works Great on Deck

The game runs out of the box. However, I do recommend using GE-Proton, since video playback is missing with vanilla Proton. The strange thing with GE-Proton (using 8-19 at the time of writing this) though, is while the first cutscene in the story mode plays just fine, the remaining cutscenes don’t. It’s just a black screen with no audio. You’ll just have to skip the videos for now. Otherwise, the game runs fantastically on Deck.

I get a pretty solid 60 FPS on ultra settings with the resolution set to 1024 x 576, TDP limit set to 8 W, and max GPU clock speed set to 800 MHz. For 40 FPS, you can tone it down to 6 W/600 MHz respectively.

I should note the game installs EAC, but fortunately, the game still runs just fine.

A Great Game Made Even Better

I really liked the first Hot Wheels Unleashed game. Hot Wheels 2 provides the same great gameplay, with the added bonus of new cars to choose from, new environments, a somewhat enhanced story mode, an elimination-style race mode, being able to shove other cars off track, jumping over obstacles, and more. The track and livery editor, while they were already good in the first, got even more love with more customization, new modules, stickers…the list goes on.

I do wish weapons had been added. I also found that the campaign, while it was slightly enhanced from the original, was somewhat lackluster, particularly the boss fights. Difficulty options for CPU opponents shift between too easy to too difficult, and the drifting mode is just annoying.

That being said, I definitely think the game is worth your while, especially if you enjoyed the original. The game works great on Deck, there’s cross-platform multiplayer, and I think the new features added to the game are great additions.

TL;DR

The good:

same great gameplay as the original with new cars, modes, tracks, campaign mode, mechanics, etc.
cars can have their stats upgraded
works great on Deck
cross-platform multiplayer, in addition to local split-screen

The not-so-good:

drifting mode isn’t fun
boss tracks in campaign mode aren’t very interesting
the campaign mode, while being better than the original, is still somewhat lackluster

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 - Turbocharged will be available on Steam October 19th for $50.

Review key provided by Tinsley PR.

GE-Proton8-17 Fixes Rainbow Six Siege, Alan Wake

Sun, 15 Oct 2023 16:43:01 +0000

New update for GE-Proton landed earlier today. Protonfixes have been added to the following titles:

Alan Wake
Batman Arkham Asylum
Tokyo Necro
The Song of Saya
You and Me and Her: A Love Story

Rainbow Six Siege is now able to be played again, thanks to an upstream patch. Keep in mind multiplayer still doesn’t work because of the anti-cheat software the game uses.

Resolution calculation when using WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR has been fixed. GE-Proton8-17 also includes the usual set of updates to “Proton build changes,” “VR changes,” VKD3D-Proton, DXVK, and Wine.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Microsoft Finally Completes the Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 17:26:08 +0000

After nearly two years, much opposition, and $68.7 billion spent, it seems like the ActiBlizzard acquisition by Microsoft has finally completed today. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will stay on board “until at least the end of 2023,” reports Polygon. CoD will remain on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms for 10 years, and will likely be available on Game Pass sometime next year. (It does make me wonder though how they’re going to be able to run a modern CoD game on a nearly 10-year-old SoC with just 4 GB of RAM.)

Perhaps this may be a bit of a controversial opinion, but I do see some good coming out of this deal. I can see the Battle.NET launcher being retired in favor of moving Blizzard games over to Steam, like they did with Overwatch 2. One less launcher to deal with is always a great thing. And maybe Microsoft will have some interest in renewing some of Activision’s other IPs, such as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (which finally arrived on Steam this month) and Crash Bandicoot.

I’d like to know what you think though. Do you think the acquisition was a good move? Or do you think Microsoft just wants to have their own monopoly where they want to own everything?

Proton Experimental Fixes Online Multiplayer with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, Fixes Halo Infinite on Deck

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 16:25:20 +0000

On Wednesday a new update for Proton Experimental shipped out, mostly focused on bug fixes. One new game is now compatible: Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes.

Steam Deck users will particularly benefit from this update. Halo Infinite should no longer crash on SteamOS beta/main. Fullscreen scaling has been fixed on Deck with MareQuest: An Interactive Tail and Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4.

Aside from this there’s also been fixes for NASCAR Heat 5, Resident Evil 4 Separate Ways on AMD, Elite Dangerous, and Airborne Kingdom. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, which finally made its way to Steam less than two weeks ago, should now be able to properly connect to online services.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

JSAUX RGB Docking Station Review

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 14:58:08 +0000

A little bit of a backstory regarding this dock: about a year ago, JSAUX was in the process of adding a layer of RGB lights to their 6-in-1 docking station. A rival company had access to their plans, and they started making their own docks with the same idea in mind. Per JSAUX’s blog post:

This product was completely developed by our team JSAUX, and we put a lot of work into it. It is difficult for us to accept that the factory leaked our development program to another company. The rival company managed to sell this product in their logo but using our product solution. It is an outrage given how many efforts our R&D personnel cost and how long our fans are waiting.

JSAUX “terminated the cooperation with that factory” and “abandoned the mold,” but said they’d come back with a completely new idea. That idea came to fruition by means of the very dock they sent to me a few weeks ago.

Model Differences

When you’re on JSAUX’s website, you’ll see two different models of this dock. One is an 8-in-1 and the other is 12-in-1. The 8-in-1 is priced at $60 and comes with the following:

HDMI port (4K @ 60 Hz)
two USB type A 3.0 ports (5 Gbps)
one USB type A 2.0 port (480 Mbps)
gigabit Ethernet port
three USB-C ports (5 Gbps), one of which is dedicated to PD

The 12-in-1, as you might have guessed, adds more ports to the dock, while also upgrading the refresh rate capability and the speed of the USB ports. In addition to the ports of the 8-in-1, it also adds a DisplayPort (4K @ 120 Hz), a 3.5mm headphone jack, a full-size SD card reader (480 Mbps), and a MicroSD card reader (480 Mbps). The HDMI port refresh rate gets doubled to support 120 Hz, and the USB 3.0 ports get upgraded to 3.2 with double the transfer rate at 10 Gbps. The Ethernet port gets moved to the side of the dock rather than in the back. The 12-in-1 is priced at $90.

JSAUX sent me the 12-in-1.

Box Contents

Inside the box, besides the dock itself, is:

product overview manual
warranty manual
stickers to put on top of the dock
USB-C to USB-C cable for connecting the dock to whatever device you want to use

I’m not sure why the stickers don’t come pre-applied. I guess they wanted to give you the choice whether or not you want to add a red accent to the dock. I definitely did so, because, if you couldn’t tell from the colors of this website, I dig black and red.

The picture on the box could have used a little more work. It’s telling me the specs of the 8-in-1 rather than the 12-in-1.

First Impressions - Not Great

Frankly I didn’t have a great out-of-the-box experience. For starters, the stand for putting in your Deck or other handheld. You push this in with your thumb, and a plastic tray comes out to which you can place your Deck. This stand feels flimsy and cheap. And there’s no sort of mechanism to keep the Deck in place. It would have been fine had this side of the dock been flat, but since the edges are angled, you can’t really keep your device secure. Lastly, when you put your Deck on the stand, it will cause the dock to lean up a little bit, since the weight of the Deck outweighs the dock. There should have been some counterweight added inside the dock to keep itself from getting tipped.

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Next is the USB-C cable suppied. While it’s great that they made the connection detachable, you may want to look into using a different one than the one provided. The end of the cable that connects to the Deck is shaped in a way that goes sideways. You either have to block access to the power button, or turn it the other way and have some of the vent holes partially covered from the cable. Not a great choice. It would have been better had this end of the cable be a 90-degree connector and not get in the way of anything.

Third, your Deck is going to get in the way of the RGBs. Since the Deck goes in front of the dock, the LEDs get partially hindered. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of getting a dock with RGBs. One workaround that I found is turning the dock around and putting the Deck in reverse. This way the RGBs are fully exposed and I have easy access to all the ports in front. But now I’ve got two problems:

I need to lean the Deck against my fridge so it doesn’t fall over, as you can see from the cover photo.
The supplied USB-C cable isn’t long enough to go around to the back of the Deck, so now the cable looks weird, if that makes sense.

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Pay Attention to Resolution and Refresh Rate Support

I never paid attention to the numbers as far as resolution and refresh rate that docks support until now. Because, what happened when I connected the DisplayPort to my 1440p, 165 Hz monitor, nothing showed up on the screen. At first, I thought the DisplayPort was faulty. After doing a little bit of troubleshooting, I could finally get the display working after forcing the Deck to use a safe resolution when connected to an external monitor. From there I gradually upped the resolution until it stopped working again. Turns out the DisplayPort doesn’t support 165 Hz. After setting the resolution to 1440p, 144 Hz, I was good to go.

I had a similar issue with HDMI. No OOTB support for my monitor because the refresh rate is not supported. I ended up getting a light blue screen with no sound, and when HDR was enabled, the screen was constantly flickering. I had to downsample the refresh rate in Steam’s display settings to 120 Hz.

So, when you’re looking at a dock to purchase, pay attention to those numbers. If you have a monitor that has a higher resolution or refresh rate than what the dock supports, you will have to downsample them until your display is working.

The thing is, this can be a bit cumbersome. So while my workaround worked in Game Mode, it didn’t in Desktop Mode. When I connected the DisplayPort, I got nothing. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to tell Plasma to support a lower refresh rate prior to connecting the external display. So I’m kind of stuck there. I got the same light blue screen with HDMI as I did with Game Mode, but I could still lower the refresh rate in Plasma’s settings and get proper HDMI support. I’m probably making your head spin at this point as I’m trying my best to explain this situation.

RGBs

RGBs are great, right? And I won’t lie; they do look nice on this dock. A LED strip is placed on the bottom of the dock and encircles the entire station. By default these RGBs move around in a circle. If you want to turn the LEDs off, just hold the button down in the center of the dock for about one second. To turn it back on, do the same thing.

Unlike the RGB backplate, you can customize the behavior of the RGBs of the docking station with OpenRGB. Upon opening the application up for the first time on Steam Deck in Desktop Mode, you’ll get a warning saying that udev rules aren’t installed. No need to worry; installing udev rules aren’t necessary for this docking station.

OpenRGB should automatically pick up the docking station. From here you can customize the RGB colors and patterns. I’m not going to go over every mode, as there’s quite a few different options available, but there’s this mode called “Stacking” which will gradually fill the LED strip with a solid color until the entire strip is lit up. After that it will reset and move on to a different color. You can control how fast or how slow the pattern moves, and whether you want the colors to move to the left or to the right.

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If you want you can also just have a solid LED that has no behavior. Whatever color you want, OpenRGB probably has it. A neat thing is you can apply colors on a side-by-side basis. So, if you wanted red on one side of the dock, and blue on the other, that’s totally possible. Modes like this also allow you to control how bright each LED is.

Do note that, once you’ve disconnected the dock, the LEDs will reset. You will need to save a profile on OpenRGB with the settings that you want, then apply this every time you re-connect the dock.

Not the Best Dock Out There

I’m kind of wondering since this dock is advertised for multiple handhelds, rather than just the Steam Deck itself, that that took some of the quality away. JSAUX makes some excellent Deck accessories, but this is one of those few times where I was left a little disappointed, particularly the build quality. The stand for the Deck is cheap and flimsy, the dock leans over when the Deck is placed in said stand, there’s not really a secure way of keeping the Deck in place, the way the dock is designed hinders the RGBs somewhat when the Deck is put in, the USB-C cable supplied gets in the way of the power button.

I mean, I was able to type this review on my Deck with this dock. All of the ports work as expected. Customizable RGBs are a plus. But just be mindful that your monitor may have a refresh rate that’s higher than what this dock supports, and you may be in for a struggle trying to figure out how to lower the refresh rate. Particularly with Desktop Mode.

I had no issues with the JSAUX dock for the ModCase. I had great OOTB support for that, including the refresh rate support, and a nice bonus with that dock is I can just slide that dock in with my ModCase and take it with me wherever I go. That may be a better choice for now, and it’s $30 cheaper than the RGB 12-in-1, while still retaining many of the same ports. Really, the only thing you’d be missing at that point is the RGBs. So, that’s up to you. I personally don’t think it’s worth spending the extra money just to have the RGBs.

TL;DR

The good:

RGBs that can be customized via open-source software
detachable USB-C cable
plenty of ports with the 12-in-1
a cheaper version of the dock is available should you not need so many ports

The not-so-good:

cheap stand
dock leans over when a device is put into the stand
supplied USB-C cable will either block the power button on the Deck or one of the vent holes
RGBs are hindered when the Deck is placed on the stand
may need to force safe mode when an external monitor is connected, depending on what resolution/refresh rate your monitor supports

The JSAUX RGB docking station is available as an 8-in-1 or a 12-in-1, priced at $60 and $90 respectively.

Thanks to JSAUX for sending this over for review.

JSAUX RGB Backplate for Steam Deck - Review

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 18:56:08 +0000

JSAUX makes some excellent Steam Deck accessories. I’d argue that they’re the ones who are the king when it comes to accessorizing the Deck.

However, just because you’re getting the RGB lights, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re worth getting.

Installation and demonstration video available on YouTube.

Box Contents

This is the latest backplate from JSAUX. It has RGB lighting. And for some reason, they include these rubber grips that go on both ends of the Deck. There’s also:

a set of custom back buttons
a Philips screwdriver for taking the back screws off
a pick
a spudger
five short screws (for the inner screws for the backplate)
five longer screws (for the outer screws)
eight screws for securing the back buttons in place
those condom-like finger gloves
USB-C cable for charging the LEDs
a warranty booklet
a booklet containing instructions on how to replace the back shell

It’s nice that they provide some extra screws. I had lost a few of mine after my cat scattered them across the floor, so the screws that were supplied came in handy.

Installation

Installation is very easy. First, make sure your Deck is off. Second, remove any MicroSD cards if they’re in. Third, remove the screws from the backplate with the provided screwdriver. Pry it off with the pick or the spudger if you need to. Remove the plastic covering the thermal paste. Put the new backplate on, securing it with the screws provided or the ones you have from the original backplate. Done.

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If you want, as with other JSAUX backplates, you can replace the back buttons with a different set. The ones pre-installed are the stock back buttons that are very similar to the back buttons on the vanilla backplate. Two sets of back buttons are provided – one that’s slightly higher, and one that’s even higher. Installing these is as simple as unscrewing the screws housing the RGB PCB, putting it out of the way, putting the new back buttons on, then securing it back in with the screwdriver.

If you want you can even use one set of the high buttons and one set of medium buttons at the same time, since the buttons are separate. The stock buttons, however, aren’t separate for some reason. You can easily split them with a pair of scissors though. This will allow even further customization, and allow you to decide whether you like the medium buttons or the high set.

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Cooler Temperature and Lower Fan Speed

The backplate – similar to the purple one I received some time ago – has an updated thermal design. Thermal paste gets put over the heat shield. If you want, you can apply some heat to this with a hair dryer, but I haven’t found this to be necessary. There’s also a vent towards the center, right where the fan exhaust is. It’s a little off-center to where the fan is located, but center in conjunction with the inner screws, if that makes sense. In any case, the vent is still large enough to have an opening for the fan.

I’ve been reading some other reviews of this backplate, and they noted that the fan doesn’t run anywhere near as fast as compared to the original backplate. They also noted the fan is much more quiet. To see if their claims were true, I ran Witchfire on Medium settings for about 10 minutes. Here are the stats with the original backplate:

And here are the stats with the same game, same area, same settings, with the RGB backplate:

It’s pretty close to a 1,500 RPM difference. Since I have the Huaying fan, I don’t really notice the noise with the orignial backplate, but for those of you who have the Delta fan, you probably are going to notice a pretty big difference in the noise. You might have also noticed both the CPU and GPU are running a whole 10 degrees Celcius cooler with the RGB backplate. So yeah, a quieter fan and a cooler APU are definitely a big plus.

Easily See the Internals

The crystal clear plastic allows you to easily see your Deck’s internals. I can definitely see the internals a lot more clearly than I can with the purple shell. But now the clear shell obviously doesn’t match up with the purple front. I’m wondering if I can transfer the PCBs from the clear shell onto the purple shell. Then just cut out a hole for the button and the USB-C port. That way, I can have the RGBs while still retaining an all-purple look. Probably wouldn’t be that difficult of a task.

RGBs

Towards the top-right of the backplate, right above the battery and where the PCB for the volume buttons/headphone jack is, is a button and a USB-C port. Holding the button down for roughly one second will turn the lights on. Holding the button down again will turn them off. The LEDs will emanate from the left and right where the grips are. Pressing the button again will switch between colors or patterns.

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Available colors/patterns are:

breathing red
breathing green
breathing blue
breathing purple
a pattern that breathes between a variety of different colors, including white, yellow, and cyan
a solid pattern that doesn’t change brightness but changes color in a vertical pattern

The LEDs can be charged via the USB-C port. According to JSAUX, charging the LEDs takes about two hours, and the battery expectancy is also two hours. A little red LED lights up underneath the headphone jack to indicate it’s charging. It will turn green when charging is complete.

The charging mechanism is a little clumsy. Unless you have an available kickstand, you sort of need to have the Deck laying down on its face in order to charge the LEDs, or lean it against a wall. I would have preferred the USB-C port to be somewhere on the side where the grips are, but to be honest I’m not even sure if that’s possible with how the PCBs are designed.

That’s about it as far as RGBs. You can’t control the brightness, how fast or how slow the LEDs breathe, or how the glowing patterns work. You also don’t know how much longer it’s going to take for the LEDs to charge, or how much juice they have left before they suddenly turn off. And frankly I found the RGBs to be a little too bright with the lights off in my room. I’m wondering if it is somehow possible to control the RGB behavior with OpenRGB.

Rubber Grips - Why?

Then you have the rubber grips. To me, this was an odd inclusion. The gray color – which, for some reason, is pictured as black on the box – is an ugly color contrast with the purple front that I have. And the Steam and QAM are quite large. I mean, if the front of my Deck was clear, the gray color would be a good fit. And I suppose the grips give the Deck some protection should it drop. But it was just an odd addition to the shell. You can still see the LEDs with these grips on, but obviously the color is hindered somewhat. Besides, I still have the ModCase for keeping the Deck protected, and the black is a much better contrast than the gray.

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Just Get A Regular Transparent Backplate

The RGBs are nice. They’ll definitely help light up the room if it’s dark. But I don’t think it’s worth the extra $10 for the RGB LEDs and the grips. The grips, to me, just don’t make sense, and with the purple front shell, the color contrast is ugly, and the LEDs are partially covered. I also find the LEDs to be too bright in the dark with the grips off, and the lack of customization as far as how bright these can get is a bit of a downer. You also have no way of knowing when the LEDs will suddenly shut off when they lose battery.

If JSAUX decides to make an updated backplate, I’d like the following:

have the ability to customize the brightness and color patterns with something like OpenRGB, just like their RGB dock, while also being able to monitor the battery life
put the charging port in a place where it’s not going to be awkward, such as the side, so you don’t have to lay the Deck down if you don’t have a kickstand
make a purple edition of the RGB backplate, so that the color matches with the front. Better yet, offer a DIY kit so anyone can do it for any backplate
don’t include the grips. Make it an optional accessory, and have them available in different colors
have the stock back buttons separated

TL;DR

The good:

pretty RGBs!
clear shell allows you to easily see the Deck’s hardware
thermal grease and vent hole allows the Deck to run at a cooler temperature
customizable back buttons that are easy to install
everything is included to get you to easily install the backplate, including a screwdriver, a pick, and extra screws

The not-so-good:

rubber grips are unneccesary and an ugly color contrast to my purple front plate, while also hindering the LEDs somewhat
RGBs can’t be customized as far as their brightness, how fast or how slow they breathe, etc.
RGB battery can’t be monitored
awkward placement of the USB-C port
RGBs are a little too bright in the dark

The RGB backplate is available on JSAUX’s website for $40.

Thanks to JSAUX for sending this over.

Do You Really Want a Steam Deck 2 That Soon?

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 17:31:22 +0000

I’m sure you’ve heard by now the mumblings regarding a potential Steam Deck revision. Codenamed as the model 1030, this new model is speculated to have a new Wi-Fi chipset capable of the 6E spectrum. There’s also the rumor of the “Sephiroth” audio codec commit to kernel 6.6, that have led some to speculate a modest hardware refresh.

While I normally don’t comment on rumors or speculation, I’ve got something to say regarding the next-gen Steam Deck.

Valve time. Yes, that dreaded phrase that no one likes to hear. But let’s try to look at that phrase from the glass half-full perspective. Valve time is actually good. Because you know Valve takes their time with their software and their hardware. They don’t rush their products out the door. Meaning, when you get a product from them, you know you invested your money properly. You get decent support from Steam, there are repairability services set in place should something go wrong with your device, and you get software that has been properly tested and doesn’t break for the typical end-user.

That’s what the Steam Deck is. The device is a little over 18 months old at the time of writing this. And we’re already seeing games push the Van Gogh APU to the limit. People demand more powerful hardware. People want an OLED screen. Longer battery life.

And yet, we’re not really at that point where we can do that. Pierre-Loup Griffais had recently mentioned “we don’t want more performance to come at a significant cost to power efficiency and battery life. I don’t anticipate such a leap to be possible in the next couple of years.” The same developer also commented that replacing the screen with OLED would be “a bigger amount of work than people are assuming it would be.” In other words, the team at Valve wants to take their time. They want to make sure the next-gen Steam Deck is truly going to be worth your while and your wallet. So, I’m glad they’re taking their time with this.

You have the so-called “Steam Deck competitors.” Take Aya Neo, for example. I can’t think of a company that produces as many handhelds as they do. Every three months there’s a new handheld from them. Say you’ve invested $1,000 in that shiny new handheld from them. Now in a few months’ time, your device is already outdated, and you feel like a loser because you’re not going to spend another $1,000 on another handheld from them that has a slightly smaller bezel and 2 more GB of RAM. And where’s the support? Is all the support going to their new handheld now? Are you still going to get support from them for the product that you have that’s only six months old?

That, to me, just causes anxiety. Investing a huge chunk of your wallet to them, only to find out it’s already outdated in a few months, with poor Linux support, and maybe getting a short-circuit somewhere in the hardware because they rushed the product out too quickly.

You don’t have that problem with the Steam Deck. Not only is it significantly less expensive than every other handheld I’ve seen, but you’re going to have longtime support for your product. You have the one-year limited warranty, even if you buy a refurbished unit. And even after that you can still send it for repair, albeit with some of your money taken away. You have software that has been tested thoroughly. You have hardware that is easy to access. And no other company would dare to invest in a platform other than Windows, to try and make the device truly more catered to Valve’s wants and needs (except for maybe Google, but they’re basically irrelevant to this.)

And you don’t have to worry about the Steam Deck becoming outdated, because Valve isn’t rolling out a new major hardware revision anytime soon. You could buy a Steam Deck next year, and still get a few years out of it, especially for the lighter indie games.

We’ve got things like FSR 3. Give that technology some time, and more developers will incorporate it into their games. This will be a huge boost for the Steam Deck, since games are becomingly increasingly demanding on hardware and this will at least allow heavy-pushing games to be playable. And you may have seen the benchmarks from Phoronix, seeing just how much better games perform on SteamOS 3.5 compared to SteamOS 3.4, thanks to the upgrade to the Mesa drivers. SteamOS 3.5 also delivers improved color management, making the screen’s colors less bland. It’s things like these that ensure the Steam Deck has a long life ahead, while giving Valve time (no pun intended) to properly invest in a Steam Deck 2 that will really be worth your while.

So, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, what would you like to see added or improved with the Steam Deck 2? Do you think Valve’s estimate of late 2025 or 2026 for the next-gen Deck is proper?

Proton 8.0-4 Adds Compatibility to Star Wars: KOTOR II, Fixes Overwatch 2 and EA Desktop App

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 04:56:51 +0000

After three weeks of testing, Proton 8.0-4 has now released as stable and is available for download on the Steam Deck and the desktop Steam client. This release adds a whole sloth of bug fixes, including regression fixes from earlier Proton 8 releases; compatibility to seven new titles; NVAPI support for nearly two dozen games; and the usual set of individual tool updates.

Newly playable games with this release include:

Arthurian Legends
CHAOS CODE -NEW SIGN OF CATSTROPHE-
EverQuest 2
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD
Songs for a Hero - Definitive Edition
STAR WARS Knights of the Old Republic II
The Longest Journey

NVAPI has been enabled to the following titles:

Alone in the Dark
Atomic Heart
Baldur’s Gate 3
Demonologist
Desordre
Doge Simulator
Icarus
Layers of Fear
Portal Prelude RTX
Rainbow Six Extraction
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Remnant 2
Severed Steel
Sherlock Holmes The Awakened
Showgunners
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Strayed Lights
Trepang2
Voidtrain
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Nearly three-dozen bug fixes have made it in to Proton 8.0-4, ranging from Overwatch 2 not being able to register gamepad inputs after an online match has started; a few fixes for Battle.NET, Ubisoft Connect, and the EA Desktop app; the Baldur’s Gate 3 launcher; SF6 incorrectly saying a user is connected via Ethernet if they’re actually using Wi-Fi; UE4 titles not working correctly on Intel GPUs; Rainbow Six Extraction not working properly on Deck; and plenty of others. Additionally, half-a-dozen regressions were fixed from Proton 8 – controller hotplugging should now properly work, and a few fixes made it in for Resident Evil 4 and Have a Nice Death.

Proton 8.0-4 now supports Steamworks SDK version 1.58. Wine-Mono was updated to 8.0.1. VKD3D-Proton was updated to 2.10, which “rolls up a ton of bug fixes, game and driver workarounds, and other improvements.” DXVK was updated to 2.3. DXVK-NVAPI was updated to 0.6.4 – this release adds HDR support and fixes a crash with Call of Duty: Ghosts. Finally, the VKD3D shader compiler was updated “to include recent upstream improvements.”

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Easily Install GE-Proton, Luxtorpeda, and Boxtron on Steam Deck with Wine Cellar

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 15:42:22 +0000

One recent plugin that I came across after I had installed Decky Loader on my Steam Deck was Wine Cellar. And holy crud, it’s made installing the latest version of GE-Proton so much easier. Not that I’m giving any crap to ProtonUp-Qt; that’s still a spectacular tool, but that’s more so for being used in Desktop Mode. With Wine Cellar, you can download and install the latest version of GE-Proton, Luxtorpeda, and Boxtron all within the comfort of Game Mode. No need to switch over to Desktop Mode.

Just as a reminder, if you’re not familiar with either Luxtorpeda or Boxtron, the former will allow games to run with native Linux engines, while the latter runs DOS games with the native Linux DOSBox build.

Installation

If you haven’t installed Decky Loader already, go to the GitHub page with your browser in Desktop Mode, and click the Download button to get started. Go back to Game Mode, press the QAM button, navigate down to the plugin icon, then go to the plugin store on the top right. Go all the way down the list until you find Wine Cellar. Press Install and you’re good to go.

Usage

After the plugin has been installed, navigate to it from the QAM. Select Wine Cellar from the list of installed plugins and press A. Press A on “Manage”. From here you can see what versions of Steam Play compatibility tools you may have installed already. If you press A over on the three-dotted icon, a context menu will show up where you can easily read the patch notes for that particular version, or uninstall the compatibility tool if you wish.

So let’s say you wanted to install the latest version of GE-Proton. Select “ProtonGE” from the navigation bar, and from the “Not Installed” list, select the version you want to install. Press A on the three-dotted button to install or read the patch notes. The plugin will take care of downloading and extracting the compatibility tool to the appropriate directory. This same concept applies to installing Luxtorpeda or Boxtron.

After a compatibility tool is installed, you will be prompted to restart Steam if you select the three-dotted button from the freshly installed compatibility tool. Do so in order for Steam to pick up the new tool.

On the About page you can check for plugin updates, visit the project’s GitHub page, where you can have a look at the source code, join the project’s Discord, or support the creator, FlashyReese, via Ko-Fi. What’s neat is there is a QR code for each option, making it very easy to submit an issue, join the Discord, or support the author of the plugin.

Witchfire Review

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 15:51:17 +0000

NOTE: this game is currently in early access as of the time of reviewing this.

I’m not going to lie – there are some games that I’ve reviewed that I rushed through, just for the sake of getting the review out of the way. And truth be told, Witchfire was going to be another one of those games. As I played the game more and more, however, I’ve taken more of a liking to it.

So, here’s my thoughts after sinking 30 hours into it.

Witchfire is developed and published by The Astronauts, who previously worked on The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. It’s a small group of just twelve developers, who also happened to work on Painkiller and Bulletstorm. The group may be small but their current game is ambitious, and pretty close to AAA quality, from the graphics to the animations when the character reloads their firearm. It’s a dark-fantasy, souls-like first-person shooter with rogue-like elements.

You’re in control of a which hunter called the preyer. The Church has called upon you to find the witch of the Black Sea, eliminate her phantom army, and find an artifact that will aid you in your war against the witches. At first, you start off with just your trusty firearm known as the “Hunger”. It’s a hand-cannon similar to a revolver, designed for close-range combat.

You’re gonna die a lot. You’re going to be unprepared. You’re going to have an onslaught of enemies to deal with. So, hopefully you’re a sharpshooter. It’s common for rogue-likes to be like this.

Mechanics

Defeating enemies and collecting various chests scattered throughout the map will add to your “witchfire.” If you manage to escape the level without dying, you’ll take this witchfire with you. This witchfire can then be exchanged for leveling up your preyer. You can upgrade such things as the preyer’s maximum health, healing efficiency, stamina, spell recharge rate, and a few other stats. These upgrades are permanent.

But don’t think this will make your subsequent runs any easier. You might have more health, but the Witch will become aware of this and increase her defenses. New enemies will make their way, from grenadiers with much more health than the typical bad guy, to swordsmen with shields, where trying to defeat them will become a nuisance. Traps will be laid on the ground. One trap is a toxic plant that will detonate if you get near it. Another trap will have you temporarily frozen in place, and you’ll receive damage if you don’t shoot the “eyeballs” that come after you.

Each map has several spots where there’s a group of enemies. Once this group is defeated, a crystal appears. You can use this to aid you during your run. For instance, one perk might allow you to increase your reload speed, or the rate at which you can fire non-automatic weapons. Another can increase your max stamina, or allow you to regain it faster. These perks are temporary and only last for as long as you’re on your current run. They will be gone upon death.

Believe me, you’re not going to want to run out of stamina, as it will make your character weaker, but it happens quite often. Actions like dashing, sprinting, jumping, or even focusing with your sniper rifle will all drain it. Enemy attacks will also drain it. You can make use of potions to restore some of your health. These can be crafted with the Angelica that you can collect on your journey.

As your preyer levels up, so will be the amount of resources available to you. While you only start off with a hand-cannon, more weapons become available later on. You can unlock a sniper rifle, a shotgun, an assault rifle, and a few other firearms. You can carry two standard weapons at a time, and you can also equip a crossbow later on that requires a special type of ammo – but this weapon will be a huge assist in your travels, since the arrows that get shot from it are deadly.

As time goes on you’ll also be able to make use of Spells. You can equip one light spell and one heavy spell. As the names imply, the light spell doesn’t do as much damage as a heavy spell, but they recharge more quickly. You can throw fireballs at your opponents, freeze them, send a shockwave, have a personal grenadier fighting at your side, send a huge magical cross that electrocutes your enemies, and plenty more.

Finally, the preyer can make use of relics, fetishes, and rings. These grant the wearer with a bonus. For example, the Ring of Excreta will drop a bomb when the preyer dashes, causing damage to anyone that’s near it. The Bittersweet Nightshade fetish casts a powerful shockwave when the preyer is hit on low health. The Eye of the Madwoman strikes a lightning bolt to an enemy that’s on the brink of death. All of these items can be used to assist you in your travels.

Weapons, spells, relics, fetishes, and rings can all be upgraded. After defeating a certain amount of enemies with them and unlocking the Second or Third Mysterium Incantation, they can deal more damage or unlock other perks.

There are currently two maps available in the Early Access release: Scarlet Coast, the level that you start off with, and later on, after defeating the boss for that level, Irongate Castle. There’s six levels altogether, but the rest are currently not available. I’ve noticed Irongate Castle is a little more taxing on the Steam Deck’s hardware, so be mindful of that.

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At First Hard, But More Satisfying Later On

The first couple of hours I spent with this game, I was frustrated. I kept on dying. The game was just too difficult. To make things worse, there’s this thing called “Calamity” that happens at the most inopportune times, such as when you’re low on ammo, or you’re low on health. You have to go to the right location within a certain amount of time and kill the skulls surrounding a red aura. If you don’t, enemies will spawn, and you’ll have to defeat a certain amount of them before your Sanity gauge runs out. And sometimes, when these calamities trigger, your max health is drastically reduced. I suppose I need to “git gud.”

As time went on, however, and I unlocked more weapons and upgrades, I found subsequent runs to be easier. And now, I find it ridiculously fun every time I do a run. It’s still challenging, and there are still moments where my character dies out of a sudden barage of enemy attacks, but man, it’s still satisfying. Facing an onslaught of five or more enemies, casting a freeze spell on them, then getting rid of them all with a few shots from the assault rifle…it feels good knowing that, as someone who was once defenseless, the upgrades really paid off and make the fights more interesting.

And don’t think the game gets boring after you’ve upgraded all of your weapons and items. The Witch keeps making you guess the more the preyer levels up, as I had alluded to earlier. Enemies get tougher, more traps are laid. And if you want a bigger challenge, try adjusting some of your firearms and your other equipment. This way you can also work on upgrading the rest of your inventory.

Steam Deck Compatibility

It runs pretty well on Deck. I have the settings set on Medium, with the resolution set to 1152 x 720. The game can usually stay around 60 FPS this way, but it can flucuate pretty wildly, depending on where you are in the game and how many enemies there are on screen. The Irongate Castle map is more tolling on the hardware, and this can lower the framerate to around 40-45 FPS.

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For a somewhat solid 40 FPS cap, I have the TDP set to 10 W and the GPU clock speed to 1,000 MHz.

Feedback

The game is currently exclusive to the Epic Games Store (makes me wonder if the publisher is getting some extra funding from Epic this way). I’m not fond of this. It means I have to check their Discord or their subreddit if I want to see any patch notes. Being on the EGS also means there’s no forums and no workshop support.

That being said, The Astronaut just published a blog post a few minutes ago about this, and they said, in part:

We’re happy we want with this deal. Being exclusive to EGS for the Early Access period allowed us to keep our independence. Which is paramount to us. Also, Epic promotes the game well.

I’m not sure why, but the game needs to have an Internet connection when the game is launched. Heroic will complain that “Offline mode is not supported” if you’re not connected. This is frankly an odd requirement for a game that doesn’t have multiplayer.

The shotgun, the Echo, needs some buffs, even though it already did since a few patch notes ago. The max ammo capacity was increased from 36 to 48, and the damage was slightly increased. However, to me, it’s still not good enough. For one thing, shooting from this weapon costs some of your stamina. And it just feels weak overall. Sometimes I need to fire three times just to get rid of one enemy. In a future patch I’d like to see the stamina cost removed, and increase the damage it deals even further.

I did notice a strange bug when you’re selecting a level. If you press the right trigger, it will still cause the preyer to fire his weapon. You’ll know this because you’ll hear a gunshot.

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Great FPS With Even Greater Potential

Even though Witchfire is in early access, the game is already showing some serious potential. The animations are satisfying to look at, the graphics are fantastic, and once you’ve invested some time into the game with upgrades, the gameplay is good fun. I’m really looking forward to more updates to the game, particularly having the next level unlocked, as I finished the two that are already in it. I do hope the game comes to Steam someday, and the Echo could use a few buffs, but other than that, I’ve really enjoyed this game.

According to the blog post from The Astronauts, there is a “fat update” in store for the second half of Novemeber.

TL;DR

The good:

satisfying animations
immersive graphics
the game doesn’t get boring later on since you have to keep guessing the Witch’s tactics
amazing gunplay
plenty of weapons/spells to explore and upgrade

The not-so-good:

can be frustratingly difficult during the first few hours of gameplay, but it gets easier later on
exclusive to EGS
shotgun requires stamina to shoot and doesn’t seem to deal enough damage

Witchfire is available on EGS for $40.

Review key provided by Evolve PR.

Looking To Increase Performance on the Steam Deck? There's a Script for That

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 02:06:24 +0000

Recently I came across a blog post that, supposedly, enhances the performance of the Steam Deck by running a few commands from the terminal. The post breaks down what each chunk of the script does. In essence, the script will do the following:

sets the CPU governor to “performance” as opposed to the default “schedutil”. According to the post the result of this switch will ‘reduce many of the dreaded frame-time spikes plaguing the schedutil governor.’
enables MGLRU (multi-gen least recently used). This will “dramatically improve upon the memory management of Linux.”
disables watchdog timers. This “can actually help the Steam Deck by not generating any interrupt requests of its own.”
disables the memory clock. Supposedly this helps with RPCS3
changes the I/O scheduler to “Kyber”. This “allows the diverse storage devices to both reach the maximum capacity of their respective throughput (i.e. read & write) speeds while at the same time still providing low enough latencies even among high I/O pressure.”
disables the tracking of file access times. “It will actually help in extending the lifetime of your storage devices, since it will cut-down on the wear & tear write operations cause on flash-based storage mediums.”
disables CPU security flaw mitigations. “Can boost the performance of SteamOS quite a bit,” at the risk of exposing your Deck to potential security risks

I have personally run this script myself with the SteamOS 3.5 preview branch (albeit with the CPU security flaw mitigations still enabled) and can confirm I haven’t run any issues so far during my brief testing. That being said, I haven’t noticed much of a jump in performance, either.

Phoronix had recently benchmarked the performance differences between vanilla SteamOS 3.5 and the same OS version with the performance tweaks applied. CS:GO, F1 2022, Hitman 3, and Cyberpunk 2077 barely saw a performance difference at all. On the other hand, “very CPU bound workloads not too demanding on the GPU” saw a decent difference. For example, Unvanquished saw an 11 FPS boost with the tweaks applied. Xonotic saw a 10 FPS boost.

Have a look at the blog post if you want to give it a try. Be aware that you do so at your own risk. Also, applying these tweaks will likely impact the battery life.

PSA: You Can Use Aftermarket Ribbon Cable Replacements for Steam Deck Joysticks

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 20:24:23 +0000

One thing that happened while I was replacing my Steam Deck analog sticks during my review of the Gulikit sticks, is that, the left stick started acting bonkers. Calibrating the stick didn’t help.

After doing some research on r/SteamDeck, someone had suggested that, if you feel like the ribbon cable is the problem, you can order 10-pin, ZIF ribbon cables and use those as a replacement.

So, I ordered some on Amazon. And guess what? My left joystick now works just fine after replacing the ribbon cable.

Here are the ribbon cables in question. The one on top is the original cable that was housing the left stick. Might be a little hard to see, but there is definitely some wear to it. The cable below that is the cable I got on Amazon.

After replacing the damaged cable with the new one, this stick now functions properly on the Steam Deck.

Chances are you may never need to do this, but when you’re constantly switching back and forth between the vanilla sticks and the Gulikit sticks, there could be a possibility that the ribbon cable will get damaged after some time. Just get 10-pin, ZIF ribbon cables and stick them inside the clips as you would with the cable that’s already connecting the joystick to the daughterboard. No need to buy a new analog stick.

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Red Tie Runner, Fixes Photo Saving Bug in Starfield

Sat, 30 Sep 2023 16:48:03 +0000

Yesterday’s Proton Experimental update is all about bug fixes. One new game has been added to the compatibility list: Red Tie Runner, a side-scrolling, 2D platformer.

13 bugs have been fixed, including a few regressions that were fixed from previous updates to Proton Experimental. Hogwarts Legacy no longer crashes on Intel GPUs, Starfield should now be able to properly save photos in photo mode, Crysis 2 and 3 get some fixes, the mouse should now work on the main menu in Death Loop, and a few other fixes for Resident Evil 2, Remnant: From The Ashes, Deep Rock Galatic, and more.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Wine 8.17 Adds Window Management Support on Wayland, Upgrades VKD3D to 1.9

Sat, 30 Sep 2023 16:29:43 +0000

Wine 8.17 (dev release) released yesterday and with it comes initial window management support in the Wayland driver, SoundFont support in DirectMusic, and 19 bug fixes. VKD3D 1.9 has also been bundled in this release – which, according to the patch notes on the WineHQ GitLab, contains “improvements to the HLSL compiler” and “miscellaneous bug fixes.”

Gaming-related fixes have been added for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Cemu 1.12.0, RageMP, Dwarf Fortress, SRPG Studio games, and ReCore.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Horizon Forbidden West Coming to Steam Early 2024

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 17:42:16 +0000

Great news for those of you who liked the original Horizon Zero Dawn. The successor, Horizon Forbidden West, is coming to Steam and EGS in early 2024, according to the PlayStation blog. It was kind of an expected move from Sony, seeing as Nixxes Software ported the original one over a few years ago. The same company is doing it again, and this will also include the Burning Shores DLC, for $60.

Horizon Zero Dawn is marked as Steam Deck Verified. I would imagine Forbidden West will also be verified, or at least Playable.

You can wishlist the game now on Steam. You can also check out the review I wrote on Horizon Zero Dawn over on Boiling Steam.

ChimeraOS 44 Nerfs NVIDIA Support, Adds Swap File For Improved Performance

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 15:34:06 +0000

ChimeraOS 44 released just a few days ago. While there’s nothing too exciting going on with this release, the “groundwork” they “have laid out in the previous releases has been bearing fruit so you can expect more consistent releases in the future.”

Software components have been upgraded as follows:

Kernel: 6.5.3
OpenGamepadUI: 0.21.7. This update allows performance profiles, improved gamepad support for the ROG Ally and GPD Win 4, Power Tools support for the AMD 7000 series, and more
Mesa: 23.1.7

There are several fixes and improvements, ranging from DSDT override no longer needed for ROG Ally audio support, improved compatibility with handhelds that have AT keyboards, a 1 GB swap file now set in place “to boost a lot of games,” fixed headphone output on Aya Neo devices, save files for PSP games now fixed, an option in the Chimera app to initialize an existing partition as a Steam library, and tons of other additions.

One nice advantage to this update is users will no longer have to manually adjust the resolution on a per-game basis. This is because Gamescope-plus creates a native display resolution xWayland session. That was one of the complaints that I had with my review of the distro a while back, and I’m glad to see it has been addressed. HandyGCCS also gets some QoL improvements, including “greatly improved” latency, suspend looping getting fixed, and full controller support for a few more handhelds.

Since the Steam client works differently now in terms of checking for OS updates, if you’re using ChimeraOS 43 or earlier, you’ll need to upgrade the OS by checking for Steam client updates. The Chimera web-ui port has been changed from 80 to 8844.

One major change with this update is NVIDIA is no longer supported:

In the last few releases we have discovered multiple examples with Nvidia drivers causing major issues on systems without Nvidia components. After attempting multiple avenues to resolve these issues unsuccessfully, the poor state of Wayland and Gamescope support for Nvidia in general, and with Nvidia having more driver issues coming soon, we have opted to remove Nvidia support entirely at this time to provide a better experience for users that have hardware with full support.

The patch notes do mention that once NVK becomes more mature, they will “revisit Nvidia support.” In the meantime, NVIDIA users are recommended to stick with version 42.

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Electromagnetic Sticks for Steam Deck: Should You Upgrade?

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 13:55:59 +0000

Sooner or later, your controller, or your Steam Deck, will experience this phenomena called “stick drift.” This is because the potentiometers on the sticks will wear over time. As they wear, stick drift becomes evident. You’ll find that the camera is constantly moving around in a circle, or your character starts walking on their own.

There is a solution to this problem, although it’s often more expensive. Sticks can use hall effect sensors instead of potentiometers. These sensors don’t wear over time. The result is, you’ll have long-lasting sticks that won’t ever suffer from stick drift.

[Note: installation video available on YouTube.]

Gulikit kindly sent over a pair of their electromagnetic Steam Deck analog sticks for my review. Their sticks are advertised as having hall effect sensors, which “fixes issues like joystick drift, blind spots, dead zones, no click, no centering, broken and loose sticks.” For $30, you get both the left and right thumbstick. Sounds a lot less expensive than getting the vanilla sticks from iFixit for $20 a piece, right? And have the hall effect sensors to boot? Sounds like a great, inexpensive upgrade!

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They sent me the second revision of their sticks. In the first edition, you had to solder the wire in if you wanted the touch-sensitive capabilities of the sticks. Thankfully, with the second edition, soldering is no longer required. Additionally, according to Gulikit, these sticks use “50% less power” than the original version.

Package Contents

The box that I got was bare minimum: a small box containing the two sticks, surrounded by a layer of plastic, and nothing else. No instruction manual provided. Just how I like it. Almost nobody reads the instruction manual these days; it just wastes paper.

Aside from the way the stick is assembled underneath the thumbstick cap, the Gulikit sticks look and feel exactly the same as the vanilla thumbsticks.

(Note: the gray and yellow stickers on top of each stick aren’t included; they were part of my DeckCube project.)

Type A, or Type B?

The Gulikit sticks have a switch on the PCB. This allows you to seamlessly swap between Type A or Type B. The reason for this, is because the Steam Deck ships with two separate controller IDs. If you go into Settings -> System -> Scroll down to the About section, you’ll find your Steam Deck controller ID. If the first four letters start with “MEDA”, you have Type A sticks. If it starts with “MHDA”, then they’re type B. In my case, I have Type A. So I would flip the switch on the back of the sticks to “A”.

Setting the right mode is important because, according to Gulikit’s website:

Each Steam Deck is installed with one of two different models of thumbsticks, Type A or Type B. Although nearly identical, capacitive touch capability relies on the correct type to be installed.

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Installation & Calibration

Installing the Gulikit sticks (at least, as far as the second edition ones are concerned) is exactly the same as if you were replacing your old sticks with a new set. Just take the back eight screws off the Steam Deck, pry the shell open, unscrew the three screws holding each stick in with a Phillips screwdriver, remove the ribbon cable, take the stick out, and put the new stick in. Repeat these steps in reverse. Make sure you have the MicroSD card removed prior to taking the shell off, if there is one inside. If you’re feeling extra cautious, you may also want to discharge the battery below 25% to avoid a mess should you accidentally puncture it.

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One extra step is required after installation, however. You’re going to want to calibrate the sticks, because chances are, the sticks are going to be misaligned. To do so, you’ll need to go into Desktop Mode, open up a terminal, and run thumbstick_cal. The terminal will walk you through the process of re-calibrating the sticks. Steam will close, and you will be prompted to keep the sticks center in place. After pressing A, the terminal will prompt you to rotate each thumbstick twice by a full 360 degrees. Press the A button again. Then you’re all set. Your sticks should be much more center now.

Go back into Game Mode, go to Settings -> Controller -> Calibration & Advanced Settings -> Open. Here you can test both the left stick and the right stick, and adjust their deadzones if you desire.

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Some Issues

UPDATE (10/2/2023): After replacing the ribbon cable to the sticks, the sticks now function properly. Right stick touch works, and the left stick registers “up” all the way now. More details here.

I ran into a few issues after replacing the vanilla sticks. Particularly with the left stick. I noticed just a few minutes after calibration, pressing up on the stick only partially moved the “needle” upwards. So, say for example I’m playing Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion. When I press the left thumbstick all the way up to make the character move forward, he just walks. He doesn’t run. For some reason, the stick just doesn’t want to register the fact that I’m pushing the stick all the way up. Strangely enough I wasn’t having these issues with the right thumbstick.

Here’s another problem. Think there’s touch capability with these sticks? Not in my case, even after setting the sticks to the right mode. The left stick touch works, but for the strangest reason, the right stick touch doesn’t.

I will admit this may be my fault though. After having replaced the sticks in my Steam Deck dozens of times, I think the ribbon cables may be a bit damaged. I can’t think of any other reason why the left stick touch works but the right stick doesn’t. According to r/SteamDeck, the ribbon cables the thumbsticks use are 10-pin ZIF with 0.5 mm pitch. I have ordered a few cables. Once I replace them, I will update this review if I observe any changes.

It’s Worth the Upgrade

The Gulikit sticks work just fine after getting a new set of ribbon cables. Originally I was having a hard time with the left stick since it wouldn’t go “up” all the way, but that problem has been fixed since I got the new ribbon cable. The new cable also solves the problem that I had with the right stick touch not working.

So, all-in-all, it’s definitely worth getting once your vanilla sticks start drifting. It’s going to be less expensive than getting new sticks from iFixit, they look and feel exactly the same, and yet, since they’re using hall-effect sensors, they have the added benefit of not suffering from the dreaded stick drift.

Only question that remains now is, how long will these sticks last in, say, a year or two from now. Will I encounter any issues with these sticks at that point? It’s hard to say at the moment.

TL;DR

The good:

easy installation; no soldering needed
supposedly uses 50% less power than the first edition
look and feel exactly like the original sticks
less expensive than the original sticks
no stick drift with hall effect sensors

The not-so-good:

none so far!

Thanks to Gulikit for sending these over for review.

Even Google Couldn't Push Linux Gaming Forward

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 11:16:42 +0000

Our friends over at Boiling Steam recently reported leaked documents highlighting the reasons why Google cancelled Stadia. Chief among them was the time and money it took for developers and publishers – particularly the AAA studios – to port their games over to Linux.

Google ultimately went with Linux on their servers to “provide the greatest flexibility and opportunity for customization”:

We faced a decision between, on the one hand, technologies that would provide the most flexibility and opportunity for us to realize our vision and, on the other hand, technologies with which third-party game developers were already familiar and for which they could more easily develop new games and port their existing catalog of games. We ultimately opted to use technologies, including the open-source Linux operating system and Vulkan graphics API, that provide the greatest flexibility and opportunity for customization, as we believed this would enable the creation of new types of games, lead to the best end user experience on Stadia, and the best streaming quality.

While Windows was considered at one point, due to ‘reduced costs’ for game companies to keep their games running on said platform, Google ditched this since they “determined that Windows licensing fees were cost prohibitive for the long term viability of the service” and “would not allow for the customization needed to create the high-quality end user experience that Stadia envisioned.”

Even with the boatload of cash Google has, they still couldn’t help the bigger fish in the pond (AAA devs/publishers) bring their games over to Stadia, citing the porting process to be time-consuming and money-hungry. And even though they had made some tools to make the porting process easier – such as “low-change porting,” libraries that “auto-translate DirectX to Vulkan,” and “cloud native play testing and quality assurance options” – this still couldn’t help convince publishers to get on board. This, in turn, drove consumers away, since Stadia’s catalog of games were significantly less than competing services like Steam.

Google cites devs preferring to use the Windows technologies that they’re already familiar with for developing games, rather than learn new APIs to bring their games over to Stadia:

This default preference for developers to use Windows made it easier for cloud gaming services based on Windows to bring existing games to their services from a technical perspective even if it creates additional licensing costs. For these same reasons, developers are likely to develop future titles for Windows first, requiring those titles to undergo porting to non- Windows platforms as well.

Because of all of this, it wasn’t long before Google canned their internal game studios, and while they tried to keep their service alive by selling their Stadia tech to those who may be interested in implementing it, they were “still unable to attract enough subscribers to maintain a viable business.” As a result, the internal studios were closed in February 2021, and Stadia was entirely eradicated by January 2023.

This just goes to further confirm that, investing into native Linux gaming isn’t worth it. Valve tried to do so with their Steam Machine initiative back in 2013/2014. Look where the results went.

Check out the article from Boiling Steam for more details.

Steam Deck 2: Not Until 2025

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 04:57:04 +0000

If you were worried that your Steam Deck would soon become outdated and quickly replaced with the next iteration, you can put your heart (and your wallet) at rest. We’ve still got quite a ways to go before the Steam Deck 2 shows up. We’re talking late 2025 or even 2026.

Back in March RPS did an interview with Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais from Valve. Yang was reported as saying, “a true next-gen Deck with a significant bump in horsepower wouldn’t be for a few years.”

Well, Griffais has recently re-iterated that point, according to an email he had sent to The Verge. Griffais is quoted as saying:

It’s important to us that the Deck offers a fixed performance target for developers, and that the message to customers is simple, where every Deck can play the same games. As such, changing the performance level is not something we are taking lightly, and we only want to do so when there is a significant enough increase to be had. We also don’t want more performance to come at a significant cost to power efficiency and battery life. I don’t anticipate such a leap to be possible in the next couple of years, but we’re still closely monitoring innovations in architectures and fabrication processes to see where things are going there.

Even though the current-generation Deck may be having a harder time handling some of the more recent AAA titles out there – such as Starfield – the good news is, SteamOS 3.5 is ready for testing on the Preview branch. Among the many features included in this update, the Mesa drivers have been updated. According to The Verge, Starfield is now “playable” thanks to this graphics driver upgrade; Griffais mentions this was “a targeted optimization effort” to RADV that now supports ExecuteIndirect. ExecuteIndirect – a replacement for DrawIndirect and DispatchIndirect – brings “major performance improvements” to DX12 since it performs “multiple draws with a single API call, and gives the ability to both the CPU and the GPU to control draw calls.”

Then again, there are rumors suggesting Valve may be looking into a modest Steam Deck refresh with the “Sephiroth” audio codec commit to kernel 6.6.

Making a GameCube-Themed Steam Deck: Was It Worth It?

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:21:38 +0000

The early 2000s. It was a great time in the video game industry. It was when Sony was dominating the console market with the PS2, wildly outselling both the GameCube, Xbox, and Dreamcast combined. It was the fiercest time in terms of console and game quality competition – one that we will likely never face again. It was the time when Nintendo hired Reggie Fils-Aime and bring his legendary E3 2004 presentation. Yeah, Sega might have caved in at this point, but the Big N had to keep their guard up with Sony. This also was the time Microsoft started to enter the console business with their original Xbox.

[Note: video demonstration available on YouTube.]

As someone who grew up with the Nintendo 64, it was natural that my parents would follow up with Nintendo’s next console at the time - the GameCube. I remember being six or seven at the time, being in the living room – with my parents, my older sister and brother – and there was this box that was wrapped up. You should have seen the look on our faces when we unwrapped that box, to find that it was none other than that purple-colored portable lunch box. This was also the time I was introduced to the Smash Bros. series with Super Smash Bros. Melee.

A few years later, I remember waking up in my bedroom one day, and finding a bag with a brand new platinum-colored GameCube and controller along with a copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee. I later discovered my dad bought this for me. I remember him slapping my shoulder after I finished a match. He knew how much I liked video games.

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But the GameCube wasn’t home to just that legendary game. That console had some of my favorite games of all time – Zelda: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, and other great hits. Maybe it’s just me, but these days, people can’t make anything original anymore. Mostly new games that come out these days are remakes or remasters of games that came out from the dawn of the new millennium. The period of innovation for games just isn’t there anymore. Perhaps that’s because competition isn’t as fierce as it was 20 years ago.

At any rate, because I wanted to relive my nostalgia of the early 2000s, I asked JSAUX if they’d be willing to send out their purple transparent front and back shell for the Steam Deck. They did so. Along the way, I decided to upgrade the thumbsticks to use hall-effect sensors, and further decorate the Deck with colored buttons that are reminiscent of the GameCube controller. The back shell also comes with customizable back buttons.

And you’re probably asking yourself whether or not this mod was worth it. Spoiler: not at all. Over $200 worth of repairs later, both my wallet and my patience had to suffer.

Back Shell - Easy Enough

Replacing the back shell of the Steam Deck is very simple, and chances are you’re not going to harm any of the internal components along the way. If you’re new to modding your Deck, I recommend starting off with this before going with a full-blown front shell replacement. All it takes is removing the eight Phillips screws, prying the back shell out with a spudger, then putting the new shell in, replacing the eight screws. For the JSAUX shell in particular, you also need to remove the plastic that covers the thermal grease. This is also your opportunity to replace the back buttons with a different set – you take out the screws holding the back buttons in and replace them with the different set of buttons that JSAUX provides.

It’s a bit difficult to describe the differences between the back button sets. One set is more flat than the other. The flatter set just didn’t set right – they felt weird to press after I had installed them. I then opted for the set that had the button higher up off the ground. It’s pretty cool that you can customize the back buttons to suit your preferences, and this is similar to what JSAUX had offered with the clear shell they had sent me earlier this year.

One other difference I noticed aside from the heat dissipation method is that, unlike the original back shell, there’s an opening in the center, right where the fan is. This allows the heat from the unit to freely flow out. Great to see that, to prevent the Deck from getting too hot.

Colored Buttons

Initially I had wanted to settle for full-color replacement buttons. I got in touch with a seller on Etsy to see what they could do. They told me they could replace ABXY, Start, Select, Steam, QAM, and the D-pad. They told me they couldn’t replace the bumpers or triggers because they are “battling with” them. Analog sticks could technically be replaced, but the touch-sensitive feature would have to be removed due to the hassle involved with resoldering the wires to the daughterboard.

They told me I would have to order two sets of buttons, which would cost $20 a piece. No thanks. So instead, I opted for a custom-ordered set of button stickers. Much less work, and less than half the price. Might not be as great as doing a full button replacement swap, but still, the colors are there. Now I’ve got myself a handsome-looking GameCube controller with a screen in the middle. Guess I just need to get those sticks notched now.

Front Shell

Oh my Lord. Please, whatever you do, don’t replace the front shell. Unless you have a spare Steam Deck lying around that you don’t mind messing around with. Replacing the front shell requires taking almost everything out, including the screen. That’s going to require heating up the bezels with a hair dryer, taking the suction cup that JSAUX provides with the box, putting it onto a corner of the screen, and gently prying it out. Fortunately, you don’t need to pry the battery out, but still, it’s not worth it. Trust me on that. Especially if your Deck is out of warranty – like mine is. If you’re determined as ever, be prepared to put your pair of ESD gloves on. You’re going to be working on your Deck as if you were performing surgery.

Even with how careful I was taking the Deck apart, I noticed that the ribbon cable to the screen broke off during the disassembly process – or, at least, the clip holding the cable in did. So guess what I did? After I put everything back together again, I ordered a new screen from iFixit, which costed $65 plus $5 shipping. I got it a few days later. Even though I could get the display cable connected properly to the motherboard, my Deck was still broken. I tried to turn on the unit. The screen backlight turned on, but nothing else. I tried everything I could – replacing all the ribbon cables, doing all the steps Valve outlined to me during the troubleshooting process, including putting the device in battery storage mode. Nothing worked.

Getting the Deck Repaired

So Valve sent me a shipping label. I put the Deck back into the box that I kept when it first showed up at my doorstep, encased in the original case, slapped the printed label on it, and sent it to United Radio in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had to call them to provide my credit card number. A week or two later they told me what was wrong – the “action cable” needed to be replaced, as well as the LR control board, the LR trackpads, and the display itself. Not sure why they had to replace the display – it was brand new. $115 plus $30 shipping later, I finally got my Deck back yesterday. All-in-all, the process took nearly a month, from the time I sent my package out, to the time I got it back.

I should note that the guys at United Radio also factory reset my device - I had to reinstall Steam, log back into my Steam account, and redownload all my games. Fortunately I didn’t have any personal documents on the SSD. Still, if you ever need to send your Deck in for repair, make sure you back up your data if you can, because chances are they’ll wipe your drive after the repair is done. And if you don’t want to hurt your wallet in the process, make sure your Deck is still under warranty.

Going the Extra Mile

I wasn’t satisfied with just the exterior swap. I wanted to make the software experience similar to the GameCube as well. That’s where Decky-Loader comes in. With that, I was able to install the CSS Loader plugin to give me the Pretendo theme. Purple vibes there whenever I’m browsing my game library. Also, fortunately Audio Loader has the GameCube menu theme, as well as the sound effects when navigating the UI. Finally, I have the Valve GabeCube boot video. I don’t really think I could make this Deck more GameCube-nostalgic than that.

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Worth It?

You already know by now that, at least for me, it wasn’t. Yeah, JSAUX might have provided all the tools and sent me both the front and back shell as a review sample. Together, this would have costed over $70. Still, at the end of the day I ended up paying more than that to get a new screen, only to find out it didn’t fix my Deck, and spend even more to have United Radio repair it. And not have my Deck for an entire month in the process.

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So, I will re-iterate: only replace the front shell if you feel fully confident, you’ve watched an hour video on how to disassemble the Deck, and your Deck is a spare unit and is still under warranty. While having a mod like this does remind me of the good ‘ol days with the GameCube, I also have to be reminded how much money it costed me.

TL;DR

transparency on both sides, allowing you to see the insides of the device
purple shell, colored buttons, and UI reminiscent of the GameCube days
customized back buttons and hall-effect joystick upgrades
back shell is far easier to replace than the front shell
only replace the front shell if you’re feeling confident and ready to break something inside
very expensive to fix, and a long wait time if your device is out of warranty and you can’t fix it yourself

Special thanks to JSAUX for sending the front and back shell.

Going on Hiatus

Sat, 05 Aug 2023 06:40:05 +0000

Have you ever broken a vase before? Have you ever tried to repair it? You might have been able to with much diligence and effort. A problem still remains, however.

The cracks are still visible.

You can put forth your best effort hide those cracks, but they’re still there.

You’re probably wondering why I’m bringing this up. It’s because that illustrates the pain I’ve inflicted on others through my words. Despite apologizing, and despite how utterly regretful I am for saying those words, the wound, or the crack, is still there. That wound might never go away. As such, I’ve permanently scarred the connection to those who were once my friends.

So, I’m kind of pulling a Linus Torvalds and going on hiatus until I am mentally better. I don’t know how long it will be, but it will probably be longer than the previous breaks that I took. I’m thinking it will be a couple of months. Between the painful aftermath from the breakup with one of my closest friends; my deep-seated jealousy over some other content creators that have made me sick to my stomach; my brother having Lyme disease; and my father going through some mysterious illness, knowing that he probably only has a few years left to live – it hasn’t exactly been the easiest past couple of months.

I recognize that as a result of these things, I’ve said some very hurtful words to some people. Most of them didn’t even do anything wrong to me. Some have described my behavior as “extreme,” “hostile,” “erratic.” This also explains why I temporarily shut my website down along with my social media accounts a few months ago. I need the break to figure out what went wrong and what I can do to correct my actions.

To any and all whom I’ve offended: I offer my humblest, sincerest apologies. My Discord DMs and my inbox are always open if there’s anything that I can do to make amends with you.

I am looking into professional help. See if I can get to the bottom of this. I’m sincerely hoping that when I return I will come back as a better person. That I can talk about things other than news, put my personality back into my articles, actually enjoy writing again, and not risk losing my friendships.

I’d like to thank the community – as well as fellow content creators, distro maintainers, and the incredible Matthew Anderson and his wife – for the tremendous amount of support that they have given me over the 17 months LGC has been around. I have truly been blessed to have such a wonderful support line and people that let me know they have genuinely appreciated the work I have put into this site.

Weekly News Recap (ChimeraOS Hotfix, Amazon Games on Heroic Games Launcher, NASB 2)

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 16:05:01 +0000

Steam Deck

three beta client updates out this week with a few bug fixes
the Deck could potentially be vulnerable to “Zenbleed”
For Honor gets EAC support, although from the looks of it “Ubisoft have done the bare minimum to make it work”
SteamDeckHQ has an opinion as to why the verification system needs to be revised

Software Updates

Proton Experimental 7.27.2023 adds compatibility to a fighting game, enables NVAPI to several more titles
Heroic Games Launcher 2.9.0 adds support for Amazon Games and adds ProtonDB/Steam Deck ratings. A hotfix was released shortly thereafter
ChimeraOS 43-1 fixes Vulkan with Flatpaks and Return to Game Mode shortcut not returning to the correct session

Other

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 coming later this year
Ubisoft won’t remove inactive accounts that have game purchases associated with them
pizza-scented Xbox controllers…yup, it’s a thing
Sega Bass Fishing free-to-claim until July 31st
looks like NVK will be merging into Mesa

Cover image credit: Ubisoft

Steam Deck Client Beta Improves Performance of Steam Input Preview Screen and Libraries with Many Collections

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 03:32:39 +0000

This week there were three beta client updates for the Steam Deck. Each update has been rather small in nature and mostly focuses on bug fixes.

Monday - Controller Configurator Performance Improvement

Steam Input gets “improved navigation” in the configurator from the Preview screen. There are two fixes for Xbox Enhanced Feature Support and PS4/5 gamepad effects when Steam Input is disabled.

Wednesday - Bug Fixes

Three fixes:

one for achievement notifications not working when offline
a second for Desktop Mode when navigation menus are hovered in Steam
a third for Steam Input showing a blank page in the configurator

Friday - Improved Library Performance

Improved library performance for users with “large numbers of collections.” Desktop Mode gets three fixes for Steam wallet, incorrect display of notifications, and the UI showing the wrong image when switching between small and normal mode.

The Steam Deck May Be Vulnerable to "Zenbleed" Exploit

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 18:50:03 +0000

Google Information Security researcher Tavis Ormandy recently discovered a vulnerability with Zen 2 processors: “Zenbleed”. In layman’s terms, this exploit can allow “the theft of protected information from the CPU, such as encryption keys and user logins,” according to Tom’s Hardware. Any Zen 2-based processor is affected: the Ryzen 3000/4000/5000 series, and AMD’s EPYC data center processors. PS5, Xbox Series consoles, and the Steam Deck – which Valve have reported has similar performance to the Ryzen 3000 series – could also potentially be affected since they are using Zen 2 APUs, although it’s not clear at this point whether that’s actually the case.

Microcode has already been submitted to the Linux kernel, so perhaps Steam Deck users will get this patch in a future SteamOS update if Valve sees to it. There is a software workaround that you can use in the meantime by installing msr-tools, then with it set the “chicken bit” on all cores, but I don’t recommend this. Not only will this require unlocking the file system, but Ormandy warns that this “may have some performance cost.”

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to CHAOS CODE -NEW SIGN OF CATSTROPHE-, Adds Fix for Street Fighter 6

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 03:36:29 +0000

A new game is now playable with today’s update to Proton Experimental: CHAOS CODE -NEW SIGN OF CATSTROPHE-. Great sign if you’re a fighting game fan like myself.

Speaking of fighting games, Street Fighter 6 should no longer report Proton users as using a wired connection. If you’re using XWayland and playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, there should no longer be buggy camera movement. Final Fantasy XIII should no longer have broken input after the main window loses focus. Dark Souls II, Aura: Fate of the Ages, and Train Simulator should still work on setups with “very long library paths.”

NVAPI is supported on several more titles, including Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Portal: Prelude RTX, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales:

Alone in the Dark
Desordre
Doge Simulator
Lord of the Rings: Gollum
Portal Prelude RTX
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Remnant 2
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Trepang2

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Insomniac Games/Nixxes Software/PlayStation

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Coming Later This Fall

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:02:53 +0000

After weeks of rumors on r/AllStarBrawl, it does finally appear that a sequel to Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is in the works and will release later this year.

According to the tweet by the official Nick Brawl account, NASB 2 will have a campaign mode, “all-new gameplay,” new modes, new characters, new content, voiceovers, and crossplay. Looks like Squidward and Jimmy Neutron will make an appearance in this one.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this one. I just hope it doesn’t fall flat on its face like its predecessor did. As for “all-new gameplay,” not much was revealed about it for the time being. Whether characters will actually have four specials instead of three, or whether each character will have a grab/throw that’s different than the other, we don’t know.

See the official website for more details, and see the trailer here. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is set to release on Steam in the Fall.

Cover image credit: Ludosity/Fair Play Labs/GameMill Entertainment

Ubisoft Clarifies: They Won't Remove Your Game Library from Inactivity

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:43:59 +0000

ICYMI: news had been spreading that Ubisoft was reportedly deleting Ubisoft Connect accounts and therefore all the games associated with said account if the user hasn’t logged in within 30 days. But the company recently clarified their stance to DualShockers that they won’t be removing accounts that have purchases associated with them. Only accounts that don’t have game purchases will be eligible for deletion.

“Account deletion follows a very strict process,” the official statement from Ubisoft reads. They take into consideration the user’s “gaming activity of the account since its creation,” whether they have a game library, the duration of inactivity, and whether there is an active subscription associated with the account. “In practice, as of today,” their statement further reads, “we have never deleted accounts that have been inactive for less than four years.”

In any case, before the deletion is permanent, three emails are sent to the player over a 30-day period offering to restore their account. In addition, if the user tries to log in during the 30-day window, they will automatically receive a warning and a link to reactivate their account.

So, as long as you have at least one game in your library, you don’t need to worry about your Ubisoft account going bye-bye for inactivity.

Pizza-Scented Xbox Controller? Yah, It's a Thing

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 13:15:49 +0000

Forget about those gaming weekends where you went to your friends’ house for a LAN party and ate pizza till it came out of your ears. Forget about those “gamer” candles. The nuts over at Microsoft thought it’d be better to have a pizza slice attached to the back of a TMNT-themed Xbox controller and have it spit out a pizza-scented diffuser, so you can have that scent of pizza floating up to your nostrils even when pizza isn’t around.

“In celebration of [‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’s] August 2023 release, we are giving away a limited number of exclusive ooze green, pizza-scented Xbox Wireless Controllers,” states the Xbox blog post. “Designed to deliver the smell of the Turtles’ beloved meal to your game time, these exclusive Xbox Wireless Controllers come with a built-in scent diffuser shaped like a slice of delicious New York ‘za.”

Not necessarily related to Linux, but I found the concept so bizarre I thought it might be worth sharing.

These controllers aren’t for sale. The only way you’ll be able to get them is by following Xbox Game Pass on Twitter (or, what Elon has now branded as “X”, with the logo being very reminiscent of the X.org logo) and retweeting their sweepstakes tweet. Although you can apparently use the controller in-person in New York City at the Microsoft Experience Center on August 2nd.

As bizarre as this concept is, I kinda wish these controllers were for sale.

What are your thoughts?

Images are credit of Microsoft.

Heroic Games Launcher 2.9.0 'Boa Hancock' Adds Support for Amazon Games, ProtonDB/Steam Deck Compatibility Ratings

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 03:21:35 +0000

Nearly two months after the previous release, Heroic Games Launcher 2.9.0 is now released. Amazon Games is now integrated into the launcher, giving you access to Amazon Prime games. DRM support has been added for web apps – the patch notes mention this is for Windows and Mac OS specifically, although from the pull request it looks like Linux/Steam Deck is supported as well. Now you can run streaming services like Netflix, AppleTV, Cruncyroll, and more!

Improvements have been made to the launcher’s performance and stability. The Mac OS version gets Gaming Port toolkit support, ProtonDB and Steam Deck ratings have been added to the game page, you can now keep track of your playtime with GOG games, and “older” DXVK versions can be installed on older hardware.

Along with this release is eight bug fixes, such as losing your login when launching the app, GOG games now remembering their install path, “Help” menus now correctly opening, and using the Steam runtime inside Flatpak now works.

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Weekly News Recap (Portal: Prelude RTX, ASUS Continues Intel NUC, Blizzard Games Coming to Steam)

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 16:59:32 +0000

Steam Deck

beta client update adds new library sorting filter, copy/paste controller input mappings
JSAUX announces the RGB docking station and backplate
starting in 2027, handhelds like the Deck are mandated to get user-replaceable batteries
DeckHD requires a third-party script to be used correctly, and needs to be re-run with every SteamOS update. Let me know in the comments your thoughts about this!

Hardware

Framework Laptop 16 up for pre-order
ASUS takes over the Intel NUC line

Software Updates

WinesapOS 3.3.0 adds support for the Deck, upgrades the kernel to 6.1
Proton 8.0.3 adds compatibility to 16 new games and fixes over 30 bugs
Proton Experimental 7.21.2023 fixes Battle.NET and Resident Evil 4 (2005)
GE-Proton 8-7 brings FSR back, fixes Neptunia Re;Birth series. A few hotfixes syncs Proton-Wine and DXVK with upstream and adds the missing normal Proton-packaged Gecko and Mono
Wine 8.13 adds fixes for LoL, Fallout 3, Steam, and plenty of other games
Wine stable 8.0.2 fixes Hogwarts Legacy and Battle.NET
NVIDIA driver 535.86.05 fixes stuff
Steam desktop (beta) 7.18.2023 allows you to see Deck verification status

Other

Portal: Prelude gets a RTX makeover
Overwatch 2 coming to Steam August 10th, with other Blizzard games to follow
Dolphin isn’t coming to Steam

Cover image credit: Nicolas ‘NykO18’ Grevet, David ‘Kralich’ Driver-Gomm

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds New Library Sorting Filter, Ability to Duplicate Controller Mappings

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 15:55:45 +0000

This week there were three beta client updates for the Steam Deck.

Tuesday - Sort Filter by Date Added

Three fixes for the wrong FPS limit being applied on startup, controller input thread operating at normal speed rather than high scheduling priority, and the styling on the login error screen. In the game library, you can now sort by date added to library to shelves and game grids.

You can now set timestamps in the Steam console window, and said window now keeps the last several seconds of output. The dev console gets two fixes.

Wednesday - Copy/Paste Controller Input Mappings

There should no longer be a “hitch” for users with large libraries that occur every 15 minutes while playing a game. The Special Offers section has a better presentation and localization of items. Users can now copy and paste mappings when setting up controller inputs.

Friday - Display Scaling in Overlay in Desktop Mode

For Desktop Mode, an in-game setting has been added to allow enabling or disabling display scaling in the overlay. A minimize button has been added to the overlay browser, and all tabs are now cleared when the close button is clicked/tapped.

Wine 8.13 Adds Fixes for League of Legends, Dying Light 2: Stay Human

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 15:39:45 +0000

Wine 8.13 is now out and with it is 36 bug fixes, Wow64 support in WineGStreamer, WeakMap support in JScript, and a Georgian translation.

Many of the bug fixes are related to the Steam client, League of Legends, Medieval II: Total War, Yu-Gi-Oh! Online 3, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, Total War Shogun 2, Star Ocean The Last Hope HD, Fallout 3, DX12 games, Dying Light 2: Stay Human, and a few others.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Riot Games

Proton 8.0.3 Adds Compatibility to 16 New Titles, Fixes Over 30 Bugs

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 03:10:22 +0000

A massive update is now out for the stable version of Proton 8.0. 16 new titles are playable with Proton 8.0.3:

Propnight
Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy
Bloodrayne Terminal Cut 1/2
Breakout 13
Murasaki Tsurugi
PooShooter: Toilet Invaders
Purgo Box
Olympia Rising
Summoners War: Chronicles
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Minecraft Legends
Company of Heroes: Battle of Crete
STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN
Gunfire: Reborn
Super Bomberman R
StreetStep: 21st Century Basketball

There are over three dozen bug fixes for things like the EA Launcher, Battle.Net, Ubisoft Connect, Proton 8.0 regressions, and game-specific changes:

Fixed Battle.net not starting.
Fixed EA launcher crashing.
Fixed Ubisoft Connect intermittently having an invisible window.
Fixed scroll bar in Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher.
Fixed EOS error message with Returnal and other EOS games.
Fixed Creativerse hanging while exiting from a local game.
Fixed Call of Duty 2 hanging when loading maps.
Fixed New World not starting after a recent game update.
Fixed game stutter in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.
Fixed Last Labyrinth displaying only a black screen on the Steam Deck.
Fixed Creativerse not being able to connect to a local game with a VPN connection active.
Fixed The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing not rendering text in Polish correctly.
Fixed game looking dark and improved performance with Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi.
Fixed DXVK HUD not showing the correct git revision used.
Fixed various memory leaks during video playback that were affecting Street Fighter 6.
Fixed Tales of Berseria suffering from screen tearing with vsync turned on while in fullscreen / borderless.
Fixed Red Dead Redemption 2 taking long time to exit with Alt+F4.
Fixed multiple Unity titles flickering on the Steam Deck when switching display window options.
Fixed The Elder Scrolls Online wrongly claiming not enough space.
Fixed The Elder Scrolls Online launcher showing blank window.
Fixed Madballs in Babo: Invasion claiming the game wasn’t purchased.
Fixed PlanetSide 2 launcher.
Fixed various Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty issues around video playback.
Fixed video playback in Nioh: Complete Edition.
Fixed Pentiment not being playable on desktop.
Fixed Grounded not being playable on desktop.
Fixed Witcher 3 launcher rendering issues.
Fixed Call of Duty: Black Ops III graphical glitches when loading Hex Tower.
Fixed video playback speed issues in METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN.
Fixed Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut hanging on exit.
Fixed connection error at the end of Chapter 2 in Life is Strange Remastered.
Fixed rendering issues in Uru: Complete Chronicles on Steam Deck.
Fixed Richman: Classic not starting in OpenGL mode.
several regressions from Proton 8.0 have been fixed

NVAPI has been enabled for the following titles:

Chernobylite Enhanced Edition
Dead Space (Remake)
Forspoken
Forza Horizon 5
Hi-Fi Rush
Marvel’s Avengers
Monster Hunter Rise
Need For Speed Unbound
Nioh 2
Propnight
Redfall
Returnal
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
SCP: 5K
Scum
The Last Of Us Part I
Watch Dogs Legion

There’s also improved video playback in Roboquest, improved load times with Final Fantasy VIII, and improved cutscene desync in Immortals Fenyx Rising. Finally, DXVK, DXVK-NVAPI, and VKD3D-Proton have been updated (2.2-x, 0.6.x, and 2.9-x respectively).

See the patch notes on GitHub. An update should be available in your Steam library for Proton 8.0; update it to use Proton 8.0.3.

Cover image credit: Mojang Studios/Xbox Game Studios

GE-Proton8-7 Brings FSR Back, Fixes Neptunia Re;Birth Series

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 14:13:23 +0000

GloriousEggroll – I mean, Ph42oN – brings the glorious FSR feature back to GE-Proton. Thanks to them for bringing this back; it will definitely come in handy for Linux desktop users.

Aside from that, Protonfixes were added to Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 and 2, and the usual set of software tools, including DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and Proton-Wine, have been updated to the latest git. The Protonfix for Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas has been removed since it is no longer needed, and Ph42oN also contributed a fix for fullscreen not working properly when FSR is disabled.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Need Some Pretty RGBs for your Steam Deck? JSAUX Has You Covered

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 13:29:58 +0000

Today JSAUX – probably one of the most prolific manufacturers when it comes to Steam Deck accessories – announced the RGB docking station and backplate for the Deck.

Just look at the pictures. It’s freaking gorgeous. Need I explain more?

The docking station comes in two varients. Both have a USB 2.0 port, two USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a HDMI port, and three USB-C ports (one for PD, another for in, the third for 3.0). The upgraded varient also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a TF card slot, a SD card slot, and a DisplayPort 1.4 port. It also supports 4K@120Hz.

The docking station has six different lighting modes to choose from:

direct
breathing
rainbow wave
spectrum cycle
race cycle
stacking

You can use OpenRGB to customize the colors.

In addition to the docking station, JSAUX is also offering a trasparent version of the Steam Deck backplate with RGBs. It has its own battery, light switch, and it can stay charged via a dedicated USB-C port. Color patterns are as follows:

color shift
color marquee
red/blue/green/purple breathing

The docking station (the 8-in-1 version) is available for purchase now for $60. The 12-in-1 version “is expected to ship at the end of August.” The transparent backplate is available for $40. If you want you can also get the transparent front plate in addition to the backplate for $60.

All images are credit of JSAUX.

Steam Deck and Other Gaming Handhelds to Get Replaceable Batteries by 2027

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:34:03 +0000

If you’ve ever seen the video or text guide by iFixit on how to replace the Deck’s battery, you’d know how gruesome and tedious of a process it is. Draining the battery, taking the back plate off, disconnecting the appropriate cables, heating up the adhesive with a heat gun/hair dryer, gently prying it out with a handful of plastic cards…yeah, it’s a lot of work and risk. It’s the one glaring flaw when it comes to the Deck’s otherwise easy-to-replace components.

However, by 2027 – as noted by overkill.wtf – a new regulation by the European Council will mandate that any device that has a battery, including the Steam Deck, the Nintendo Switch, and the ASUS ROG Ally, will need a user-replaceable battery. The documentation provided with this regulation states “a portable battery shall be considered readily removable by the end-user where it can be removed from a product with the use of commercially available tools, without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless provided free of charge with the product.” Instructions and safety guidelines will need to be supplied with the device.

For a company like Valve, I’m sure they won’t have an issue complying with this new regulation. In fact, that’s one of the things they want to address – to make the battery easier to work with. I’ve got a pretty good hunch that Valve is already looking into this with the next-gen Steam Deck, even before this law takes effect. Knowing a company like Nintendo, however, I’m 95% certain they will fight this law tooth-and-nail to find loopholes with the Switch 2.

At any rate, though it will be a while before this law takes effect, I’m glad to see efforts are being made to support the right-to-repair.

Cover image credit: iFixit

Wine 8.0.2 Fixes Hogwarts Legacy, Battle.NET

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:04:16 +0000

New update to Wine is now out on the stable branch as opposed to the typical updates shipped to the dev branch. A total of 27 bugs have been squashed since the 8.0.1 update back in April. Hogwarts Legacy and Sins of the Solar Empire Rebellion should no longer crash on unimplemented function. There should no longer be a Qt error when installing or updating Battle.NET. It shouldn’t take nine minutes to extract the Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 demo.

Along with this is plenty of other fixes for things like the Genshin Impact launcher, Devil May Cry 1, Chromium, Chocolatey OpenSSH, and LibreVR Revive.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Ironclad Games/Stardock Entertainment

Want To Upgrade Your Steam Deck's Resolution? You'll Need to Reflash Your BIOS

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 14:14:18 +0000

As I had alluded to in yesterday’s weekly recap, it appears that, if you want to use the DeckHD – a screen for the Steam Deck that upgrades the resolution to 1200p and provides better color quality – in the fullest capacity, you’ll need to flash your Deck’s BIOS.

This wasn’t something that the DeckHD team was upfront about. Only recently did a member of the team address this technical hurdle in the DeckHD Discord:

It is currently a ‘must-do’ procedure to flash the BIOS after installing the DeckHD screen on your Steam Deck. There are a couple [of] reasons for this, but mainly down to these three:

We need to flash the BIOS to adjust the configuration of the different chips on the motherboard.
Implement the correct display initialisation commands for DeckHD display.
To let the OS know that you’re booting up with a 1200p display instead of the default 800p.

So in theory, each time Valve releases a new BIOS version, we will take that and customise it to make it compatible with the DeckHD display. Users would need to perform a simple BIOS-flashing procedure via our installation script in Desktop Mode whenever they upgrade to a new SteamOS version. At this moment, I’m not able to answer whether our BIOS versions will be made open-source, I will need to confirm with our team about this. Though, our goal is to ultimately work with Valve to support our DeckHD screen so users don’t have to flash BIOS every time.

As SteamDeckHQ brought out, this is concerning. Not only is it a royal pain to replace the Deck’s screen – it’s also going to be more demanding on both the Deck’s battery and its APU. Now on top of this, a script needs to be run by a third-party every time Valve releases a new BIOS update. Cryobyte33, author of the CyroUtilities app, mentions that he doesn’t “personally feel safe” about this:

The BIOS files are a black box and could be very dangerous if ever tampered with or packaged with bad intent. I’d feel much safer with an open-source tool or set of commands to do the unlock, rather than a direct flash…I would personally recommend waiting for the growing pains to clear out before buying, unless you’re a tinkerer who would be okay swapping back if there’s an issue. Unfortunately the possibility of the developers either abandoning new BIOS revisions or doing something malicious is non-zero, so I wouldn’t recommend it for the average consumer.

I will be getting a review sample of the DeckHD later this month or next – a concrete shipping date hasn’t been set in stone yet. But man, I’ve got some chills running up my spine upgrading the display.

Still, if you’re feeling confident, you can join the waitlist on the official website. Whenever the display becomes available for purchase, it will be $100.

WinesapOS 3.3.0 Adds Support for the Steam Deck, Enables Vulkan GFX Pipeline Library by Default

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 13:38:51 +0000

Five months after the previous update, the excellent winesapOS gets a major upgrade. Codenamed “The Major Upgrade Update,” winesapOS 3.3.0 comes with improved hardware support for the Steam Deck (including sound support), Steam Machines, Framework laptops, and Microsoft Surface laptops. If you previously used Mac Linux Gaming Stick 2 (what the project was called prior to version 3), you can now upgrade to version 3 with just a few commands from the terminal. Quite a few more file systems are now supported, AppImages can be installed via the AppImagePool package manager, and the kernel has been upgraded to 6.1.

Along with this, the distro now resorts to using upstream Arch packages rather than the outdated SteamOS packages, providing a more stable experience for the user; and the Vulkan graphics pipeline library is now enabled by default – which, according to the patch notes, “will lead to little to no stuttering in most games that do not already have shader cache.” A few fixes related to corrupt graphics or graphical applications failing to launch have made it in as well.

Note that, if you’re using winesapOS on the Steam Deck, the built-in controls may not work. If this happens, select Arch Linux, with Linux linux from the boot menu to workaround this issue.

See the abbreviated patch notes on the Releases page, and the full patch notes here. Be sure to check out the interview that I had with the project founder, Luke Short. And who knows – I might do a review of the distro soon.

Weekly News Recap (SDG Interview, DeckHD BIOS Update, FTC Denied by Court)

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 04:01:39 +0000

Steam Deck

BattleBit Remastered to continue to get Deck support
I interviewed Steam Deck Gaming
stable update adds notification QoL improvements and a ton of bug fixes
looks like the DeckHD will need a BIOS flash

Software Updates

Proton Experimental 7.14.2023 fixes New World and Aura: Fate of the Ages

Other

COO of Irdeto thinks Denuvo doesn’t impact performance
Microsoft defeats FTC in ActiBlizzard deal; FTC denied to appeal
fixing PooShooter: Toilet Invaders on Proton wasn’t a waste

BattleBit Remastered Will Continue to Be Supported on Linux/Steam Deck

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 16:23:26 +0000

Some great news for those of you who are playing the wildly successful Battlefield-like BattleBit Remastered. Recently there were concerns about the game breaking compatibility with Proton with the new FACEIT anti-cheat software that the developers were in the talks of implementing.

Fast forward a few weeks later, Reddit user u/JimmyRecard noticed in the official Discord server for said game that an announcement was made regarding FACEIT Linux/Steam Deck support:

There will be a new version of FACEIT that supports Linux…BBR will be the first game to be using that version.

They do mention this anti-cheat is “a more casual version.” What exactly that means, whether the anti-cheat is user space instead of kernel-level, is not clear. They also mention the anti-cheat software will be supported by a “popular version of Linux”; it’s unclear what distro(s) will be officially supported.

Going by the comments in that Reddit thread, it seems like there are mixed results. Some people can get it to run. Others, such as those who are using NVIDIA GPUs, can’t get it to run through Hyprland and GameScope. It looks like it runs on Steam Deck, though you’ll need to set up a custom controller profile.

So, whether or not you want to buy the game is up to you. Still sounds like it’s a bit of a gamble at this point.

BattleBit Remastered is available on Steam for $15.

Cover image credit: SgtOkiDoki

An Interview with Martin Williamson, Owner of Steam Deck Gaming

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 13:41:52 +0000

I had an opportunity to interview one of the most popular Steam Deck YouTubers out there: Steam Deck Gaming. With over 30k subscribers and over 600 videos, SDG has pretty much everything covered when it comes to game optimization, accessory reviews, guides, what games have been marked as playable or verified, etc. He also has his own website.

TL;DR

SDG is primarily a YouTuber, but also has his own website
content creation is currently done on a part-time basis
SDG launched in May 2022. The name came about from wanting “to be a laser-focused channel on the Steam Deck”
the Steam Deck: “It has truly been the best gaming handheld I’ve ever used”
has a little bit of experience with RHEL and Unix
top five Deck accessories: Rii i4 wireless K+M, JSAUX kick stand case, Kiwi home dock, Uperfect Ubox 2, tomtoc arccos bag
top five games: Cyberpunk 2077, FF VIII, Kill Zone 3, God of War, X3: Reunion
the ROG Ally has better performance than the Deck, a better screen, quiter fans, but is more expensive and not as versatile
tips for Deck owners: use CryoUtilities, apply UMA frame buffer changes, get Decky Loader
the Deck community: “the best we have ever come across”

Explain who you are and what you do.

I’m Martin and I’m the creator for Steam Deck Gaming, also the editor for all social and website articles currently.

Steam Deck Gaming started as a YouTube channel and Twitter account but grew into a brand around the Steam Deck, providing a dedicated site and channel for all things related to the Steam Deck from news, game performance and regular updates on the latest supported games. The dream is to make it a full-time job but at the moment it’s just a part-time hobby. Seeing everyone’s excitement over the Steam Deck and how much it replaced the need for cloud streaming content (what I was doing for) I was really drawn to the device and how much you could do with it game- and desktop-wise.

How long has Steam Deck Gaming been around?

We started in February 2022 with the concept and officially launched the channel in May 2022. I originally worked with another creator who I work with in other channels but he decided to take a break early in the launch and didn’t return so it’s been myself since around June 2022.

How did you come up with the name “Steam Deck Gaming”?

We wanted to be a laser-focussed channel on the Steam Deck and gaming in general so it was only natural to go with the simplest name that should also be a top search term.

How long have you had a Steam Deck, and what are your thoughts on it?

I got my first Steam Deck late March after my friend convinced me to do the channel. Paying for a first wave Steam Deck on eBay was a big risk but it has truly been the best gaming handheld I’ve ever used and it was definitely a worthwhile investment. Even if it has meant rebuying games that I previously owned on other platforms for ease of use and optimisation.

The setup of the Steam Deck with Steam OS makes it extrmemly versatile and mapping for compatibility of games, although the game support for FPS isn’t as great as it could be. The sleep functionality and the custom plugins that are available add to the experience, with the battery life being more than acceptable for a portable PC. Considering how locked down the Switch is and how much hard work Windows is on other handhelds, the Steam Deck is a breath of fresh air.

Prior to the Steam Deck, have you used Linux?

Prior to the Steam Deck I tried RHEL when I started in my programming days but didn’t get very far. I also used Unix for Verilog programming as part of my university degree, but didn’t really do much with it apart from running the required programs and command line arguments for circuitry simulations.

Name your top 5 favorite accessories for the Steam Deck.

The Rii i4 wireless/bluetooth keyboard with mouse combo is by far my number one. Still used daily.

The JSAUX kick stand case is still my favourite. It provides great all round coverage and a handy kick stand if you ever want to prop it up to use the Deck as a TV or an external controller.

Dock wise is actually one that you can no longer purchase but I absolutely loved the Kiwi home Steam Deck dock. I never formally reviewed it as they never sent the product page links and it never appeared on their site, but it was a nice metal dock with a power button switch on top. It didn’t block vents and held the Deck nicely in or out of a case. The power button always kept power passthrough but disconnected all the other ports which was great for content creation as I could switch from just the Deck screen and power to power and full dock mode without changing cables.

Uperfect portable monitors have been amazing for playing about with the Deck on desktop mode and playing on docked while other screens are in use. I’ve reviewed a few portable monitors, but the Uperfect UBox 2 is just stunning, a 144hz 1600p display that is just crystal clear and very thin and easy to carry around for portability that also doesn’t break the bank.

Finally the tomtoc arccos bag is a perfect fit for the Steam Deck and all the accessories.

Name your top 5 favorite games of all time.

Cyberpunk 2077. This was the first game that felt truely futuristic and looked fantastic on my RTX 3080 machine, I enjoyed every minute of the game and explored a few endings and tons of side quests to get the most out of the game. Still the best gaming experience I’ve had in the last few years.

Final Fantasy 8. My first completion of a Final Fantasy game on the PlayStation and I still remember all of the story to this day, as weird as it could be, but still one of my most memorable gaming experiences.

Kill Zone 3. This was pretty much the only game I played on the PS3 and I pretty much mastered online regularly coming first in matches and being accused of cheating. I got the game day one and completed it pretty quickly and went straight in online. Probably my greatest ever standing on an FPS game.

God of War. There is so much to love about God of War, I played the original back on the PlayStation as a kid and playing again with the better graphics and also on Steam Deck has been absolutely fantastic, as well as being an extremely well-polished and fun game.

X3: Reunion. I don’t think any game will come close to the number of hours I spent building my universe in X3: Reunion, due to having to use a mod to get past a bugged end stage mission my save game never formally progressed past that point. But when I finally stopped playing I was at over 500 hours game time. I built a completely self-sustaining monstrosity of a station system that earned me billions with trading the excess and built myself a fleet of the biggest capital ships in the game, and still ultimately lost trying to take out the Kha’ak from their unknown sectors but had a blast trying out tons of ships and automation.

Besides the Deck, do you own any other PC handheld?

I have two Nintendo Switches, mostly for the kids, but they haven’t touched them since the Steam Deck appeared as well as the consoles on the house. I do also own the ROG Ally for content comparisons.

Speaking of the ASUS ROG Ally: what are your thoughts? Do you think it truly is a Steam Deck competitor?

The Ally performance is better than the Steam Deck in most cases and it has more performance options. The screen is also better and the speakers much louder and fans much quieter. But the pain of Windows still looms and the price tag is much higher [at least here in the UK]. While the Ally is a great device, it doesn’t touch the Steam Deck in terms of ease of use and flexibility.

The price difference is only small in the US - in the UK for example a 512 [GB] Steam Deck is £579 where as the Ally is still £700. The Ally also does not come with a case as standard. In the EU I think the gap is also significant. Steam OS is special because it’s built for the Steam Deck, sure you can put a clone of it on the Ally but it won’t work as well as Windows does, and anyone can use Windows, it can just be a bit fiddly sometimes.

Any tips that you’d like to give to current and future Steam Deck owners?

Be sure to [use] CryoUtilities and UMA fixes and get Decky Loader installed with a few plugins. It really elevates your experience on many levels and makes it more fun to use. Don’t worry about compatibility too much. Use the Steam status as a guide but always check YouTube or ProtonDB for full info.

Where can people find you?

YouTube, Twitter, our website, Instagram, and now Threads.

The Steam Deck community is still one of the best we have ever come across. The willingness to share information and help each other has been outstanding from the start. It’s truly an honour to be part of it and we can’t wait to see what the next installment for the Steam Deck holds.

All images are credit of SDG.

Steam Deck Client Update Adds QoL Improvements to Notifications, Improved Responsiveness of Systray

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 03:31:20 +0000

A little less than three weeks since the last stable update for the Steam Deck and we’ve got nine beta updates baked into today’s stable update.

I won’t be covering the bug fixes, because let’s be honest, the word “fixed” showed up in the search results 38 times. There’s just way too many to cover here, but a good chunk of them are dedicated to Desktop Mode. Some other fixes were made to the in-game overlay, Steam Input, the screenshot manager, friends and chat, and the server browser.

Some quality-of-life improvements made it in regards to notifications. Notification settings have had “small organization and clarity changes.” It’s been rearranged and some controls respond to changes in the global settings. Notification toasts added a sound effect. Non-critical notifications can have their sound effect enabled or disabled.

For Desktop Mode, there is improved responsivity of showing the systray menu, the incorrect date display on DLC hovers has been removed, and an error is now properly shown when failing to load existing awards. The desktop overlay gets a battery indicator.

The screenshot manager now remembers the last selection made for the privacy dropdown selector for local screenshots. Clicking (or tapping?) the large image in the right panel now opens a larger pop-up of said screenshot.

Aside from this there are quite a few fixes under the “Linux” category and some other improvements, but these pertain to the Linux desktop version of the Steam client. There is improved compatibility with window managers that send an unfocus event and a crash workaround has been added for NVIDIA GPUs.

See the full patch notes on Steam.

Denuvo: "There is No Perceptible Impact on Gameplay Because of the Way We Do Things."

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 15:02:55 +0000

Steeve Huin, COO of Video Games at Irdeto – the company behind the infamous Denuvo DRM – reached out to Ars Technica in a poor attempt to try and defend the company’s anti-tamper technology.

Denuvo affects some of your favorite titles: Street Fighter 6, Sonic Frontiers, Monster Hunter, etc. You can’t even mod some games without the risk of getting a temporary ban from being able to play the game. You can’t even play certain games on Alder Lake processors. Sometimes you can’t even launch a game if the Denuvo domain goes offline.

Here’s what Huin had to say regarding Denuvo:

Anti-piracy technologies is to the benefit of the game publishers, [but also] is of benefit to the players in that it protects the [publisher’s] investment and it means the publishers can then invest in the next game. But people typically don’t think enough of that.

In addition to thinking that Denuvo is “of benefit,” he also believes that it doesn’t harm gaming performance at all:

Gamers [almost] never get access to the same version of [a game] protected and unprotected. There might be over the lifetime of the game a protected and unprotected version, but these are not comparable because these are different builds over six months, many bug fixes, etc., which could make it better or worse.

There seem to be some mixed results regarding this. Ars benchmarked Batman: Arkham Knight and noticed there was no difference between Epic’s Denuvo-free copy and Steam’s Denuvo-laden version as far as performance and loading times. On the other hand, Katsuhiro Harada, director of Tekken 7, reported that the game’s “encryption program” (anti-tamper third-party middleware) resulted in “frame rate drops.” Benchmarks from Overlord Gaming also suggest that several of the titles they tested – from the Dishonored series, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Rime, and a few others – saw quite a drop in loading times and performance dips when the Denuvo is removed.

It’s a good thing Huin acknowledges that most people aren’t going to believe a word he says: “Our voice is unfortunately not sufficient to convince people because we’re not trusted in their mind as a starting point in that debate.”

Irdeto will supposedly be offering a program in the next few months where “trusted media outlets” will be given two copies of a game: one with Denuvo, and one without it. Huin wants people to see for themselves “that the performance is comparable.” Seeing as the copy is coming directly from Irdeto, however, I doubt if the DRM-free copy is something to be trusted.

But it gets worse. Irdeto is also rolling out their anti-cheat mechanism called “Unbotify”. Huin says this will try “to separate humans from non-humans playing in a game.” I can see this as a big obstacle for Proton developers. How are they going to add compatibility to a game for Linux desktop/Steam Deck if the anti-cheat prevents Proton from being able to play said game?

If there’s one good thing I can see out of this, it would be that Denuvo is mostly going to be attached to only the bigger AAA hits. Even if independent developers could afford the anti-tamper technology, I think they’re smart enough to not ruin their game by putting it in.

I’d like to know what you think though. Do you think Denuvo is a good anti-piracy strategy? Or does it only encourage piracy? Do you think this “Unbotify” anti-cheat will prevent games from being able to be played through Proton?

Cover image credit: Overlord Gaming

Weekly News Recap (GOL Turns 14, ChimeraOS on ROG Ally, Skullgirls Censorship)

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 21:32:34 +0000

Steam Deck

plenty of Desktop Mode fixes with last week’s updates
BattleBit Remastered might not work on Deck with new anti-cheat coming
seems like Valve is validating some games even before they get shipped
looks like you can make custom library tabs with a Decky Loader plugin

Software Updates

ChimeraOS 43 adds initial support for the ROG Ally, adds ability to switch update channels via Steam’s interface
Proton Experimental 7.7.2023 fixes Overwatch 2, Wild Hearts, Age of Empires II, and more
Wine 8.12 adds painting window support in Wayland and 31 bug fixes
Godot 4.1 allows code editor to be detached, fixes over 900 bugs
ProtonUp-Qt 2.8.1 adds Italian translations, the ability to install GE-Proton for the Heroic Games Launcher
Steam (desktop) beta fixes a crash with NVIDIA GPUs and improves compatibility with window managers

Other

new PS4 emulator being worked on by some of the RPCS3 devs
Skullgirls getting review-bombed following art censorship
GOL has been around for 14 years!

Cover image credit: Steam Deck HQ

Proton Experimental Adds Speech Recognition for Phasmophobia, Fixes DOOM Eternal with Ray-Tracing Enabled

Sat, 08 Jul 2023 12:24:28 +0000

Yesterday’s update to Proton Experimental is all about bug fixes, although there is one improvement: Phasmophobia gets speech recognition. Game stutter for Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris has been fixed, and Overwatch 2 should still be able to recognize controller input after entering an online match. Keyboard input with Wild Hearts should no longer register with a delay or get stuck. Aside from this, there have also been fixes for Escape from Monkey Island, Age of Empires II, and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

A few more regressions from Proton 8 have also been fixed in regards to Gears 5 when logging in and DOOM Eternal no longer crashing with ray-tracing enabled on AMDVLK or NVIDIA.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Many Desktop Mode Bugs

Sat, 08 Jul 2023 04:17:30 +0000

This week saw four beta client updates for the Steam Deck. Two of these updates occured on the same day on Thursday. As you might have predicted, most of these updates pertain to fixes for Desktop Mode, though we did get an option that fixes dropdown menus being unclickable with certain window managers.

Monday - In-Game Overlay and Desktop Mode Fixes

Two fixes for the in-game overlay regarding the controller summary layout preview screen and when showing a notification. Desktop Mode gets four fixes for emoticons, app icons in What’s New, low battery, and date/time tooltip on events rendering full screen.

Thursday - Improved Compatibility with Window Managers and Sound Notification Settings

Desktop Mode gets half-a-dozen bug fixes. A sound is played when displaying a notif toast. BPM also gets the sound effect where it was missing before.

A setting has been added to “improve compatibility with window managers that send an unfocus event before every pointer click event.” Enabling said setting “will fix dropdown menus being unclickable on these window managers.”

A few hours later, another beta update shipped with a fix for “viewing and closing a news event partially blocking mouse and touch input on the window.” Desktop Mode gets two fixes, a toggle was added to turn sound effects on or off for non-critical notifs, and the notifs settings page has been re-arranged. Some controls respond to changes in the global settings.

Friday - Desktop Mode Fixes

Desktop Mode gets two fixes for black screen at startup if the startup location was set to something prohibited by Family View, and the tops of some context menus not being interactable if they overlap the title bar. Incorrect date display has been removed on some “DLC hovers.”

Wine 8.12 Adds Painting Window Support in Wayland, Command Streamer Performance Improvements

Sat, 08 Jul 2023 04:05:54 +0000

Today’s release of Wine 8.12 further promotes Wayland support with “painting windows.” Command stream performance improvements with WineD3D have also made it in along with 31 bug fixes.

Gaming-related fixes with this update include Combat Mission Shock Force demo, StarCraft II, and Harry Potter Magic Awakened.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Godot 4.1 Improves Model Importation, Allows Code Editor to be Detached

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 14:22:15 +0000

Godot 4 was a massive release that brought…well, too many changes, improvements, and fixes to list. Fast forward four months later and we’re already seeing a big improvement to the open-source game engine with the release of 4.1.

In this update come the following:

improved AI navigation avoidance
the code editor can now be detached and put on other displays
adding and removing child nodes is “several times faster”
Vulkan renderer gets a pipeline cache which should lead to a “slight decrease in load times”
imported models should no longer face backward
frame delta smoothing to improve “fluidity of motion and give smoother gameplay”
static variables can now be used
visual shader notes and editor plugins can be made via GDExtension
arrays of nodes can now be exported to the inspector
easier searching of projects via the use and filtering of tags
games can be exported to “all desktop platforms” whether it’s using GDScript or C#. Games that aren’t written with C# can also be exported to mobile platforms and the web
over 900 bugs fixed
and plenty more!

The blog post mentions that, if you’re migrating your project from Godot 4 to 4.1, it should be “relatively safe” to do so. There’s a migration guide that’s in the works. Make sure you back up your project before updating!

See the curated changelog for more details.

Cover image credit: Godot team

ChimeraOS 43 Adds Support for ASUS ROG Ally, Decreases Game Loading Times

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 13:39:13 +0000

A juicy new update is out for the excellent console-oriented distro ChimeraOS. This new release has been nearly two months in the making, but it has been well worth the wait.

Some backend work has been put in to make the support of new handhelds more streamlined:

One of our long term frustrations has been balancing the need for general support while many new devices, especially handhelds, require per device configuration changes. Going forward it will be much easier to enable device specific patches during installations and upgrades.

They’re also working on their own kernel now to avoid having to fix issues with the mainline kernel:

The kernel is still based on the Arch kernel and will enable us to apply upstream patches that affect gaming performance, add gaming features, or fix hardware problems much sooner. It will also ensure we have more control over the kernel that is shipped, which will make the development cycle more predictable. The goal is to stay as close to Arch mainline as possible while avoiding regressions to currently supported hardware.

One big feature that has come to this update is initial support for the ROG Ally. There’s audio support, Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth, and partial TDP control via OpenGamepadUI. Do note that suspend functionality is not supported yet; the ChimeraOS team recommends disabling auto-suspend. This makes ChimeraOS the first distro to support said device. Big thanks to Luke Jones and Matthew Anderson for their hard work in making this possible! See the article from Ars Technica for more details.

OpenGamepadUI gets a new “CardUI” and along with this comes support for more handhelds and “numerous bug fixes that improve the user experience.” Lutris and Yuzu have been added to the plugin store.

The AOKZOE A1 Pro gets fan control support, games should now boot up faster (while some other titles that previously didn’t launch should now boot), four new handhelds get gamepad support, update channels can now be seamlessly switched via Steam, Intel OXP devices have better compatibility, a screen rotation quirk was added for the AOKZOE A1 Pro and AYN Loki Max, a few bugs have been fixed, and some other additions have made it in.

Software upgrades are as follows:

the kernel has been upgraded to 6.3.9
OpenGamepadUI 0.15.5 – fixes detection for the OneXPlayer
Mesa to 23.1.3

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

New PS4 Emulator in the Works

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 17:55:15 +0000

There’s been a few PS4 emulators that have been worked on. Well, a new one has entered the fray, and this is coming from the developers who worked on the PS3 emulator RPCS3. The project’s name is RPCSX and the source code is available on GitHub. Per the description from the README:

This is an experimental emulator for PS4 (PlayStation 4) written in C++ for Linux. It’s NOT possible to run any games yet. It’s also unknown when it will become possible.

Interesting that it mentions “for Linux.” Nice. I guess Windows users are going to have to wait to get it to run on their system.

Per the dev interview with Read Only Memo, the benefit of having this emulator will manifest itself when you’ll still be able to play a game that might get removed from PlayStation Network. There’s no ETA because “every team member has work/family/hobbies and it is not full-time work.” Currently DH, kd-11, and Nekotekina are working on it.

There aren’t even instructions on how to build the emulator right now. But, seeing the amazing progress that was done to RPCS3, I imagine it won’t take long to get some homebrew games running at least. Then again, I could be wrong on that since the PS4 is using a completely different architecture than its predecessor.

If you’re familar with C++ and you’d like to contribute, join the team’s Discord.

ProtonUp-Qt 2.8.1 Adds Heroic Support for GE-Proton, Overhauls Interface

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 13:07:28 +0000

Three months after the last release of ProtonUp-Qt comes a new version: 2.8.1. Included in this release is the ability to install GE-Proton, Wine-GE, and D8VK for the Heroic Games Launcher, and Italian translations have been added. More translations can be added via Weblate.

Some other quality-of-life improvements have been baked in. “Internal functions” and the user interface have been overhauled, the gamepad deadzone has been increased, better detection of the Steam root folder and Proton-Tkg releases, and a couple of bug fixes.

Special thanks to sonic2kk for this update. See the patch notes for more details.

Weekly News Recap (10k Verified/Playable Deck Titles, Steam Summer Sale, Huge AMD Marketshare)

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 18:18:48 +0000

Steam Deck

three beta clients add a bunch of fixes for Desktop Mode
Nix packages coming to SteamOS 3.5
close to 40% of Linux gamers are using the Deck
over 10k verified/playable titles
the Steam summer sale has begun, from now until July 13th. Get the Deck for up to 20% off
the Deck is apparently the global number one best seller on Steam

Hardware

System76 launches the Nebula PC case

Software Updates

GE-Proton 8-5
Proton Experimental 6.27.2023 fixes a few regressions with Street Fighter 6, Grounded, and Football Manager 2023
Kernel 6.4 gets new power features for the Deck

Other

AMD CPU marketshare on Steam for Linux is close to 70%
Valve hires Mesa dev Alyssa Rosenzweig
NVK making better and better progress
Valve apparently banning games with AI-generated artwork

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Battery Indictor to Desktop Overlay, Plenty of Desktop Mode Fixes

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 17:51:02 +0000

Last week there were three beta client updates for the Steam Deck. Desktop Mode gets over a dozen fixes, improved responsiveness, and a battery indicator. This, along with a few improvements to Steam Input.

Tuesday - Soft-Lock Fix

There is no longer a soft-lock when a game requests that async game notifs be enabled. Steam Input gets a fix for some Switch Pro gamepads not getting recognition after the last Steam update, and the notif for “Action Set Changed” should now properly appear when changing an action set.

Desktop Mode gets five fixes.

Thursday - Battery Indicator for Desktop Mode

Some “small organization and clarity changes” have been made to notif settings. Two issues have been fixed regarding Steam Guard code and a “rare achievement animation” not playing when Steam wasn’t focused.

Desktop Mode gets another five fixes, and some improvements have been made to the screenshot manager. A battery indicator has been added to the desktop overlay.

Friday - Fix for Sleep Mode

There should no longer be a hang when resuming the device from sleep. Steam Input gets two fixes where configs could fail to get deleted, or they disappear from the config browser after deleting a different config.

Desktop Mode gets improved responsivity of the systray menu, and an error gets properly shown “when failing to load existing awards given when showing the award dialog for user generated content, reviews, discussion posts, and comments.” There have also been four bug fixes.

GE-Proton8-5 Removes Gears 5 Workaround, Fixes Two Games

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 16:36:26 +0000

Gears 5 no longer needs any workarounds with today’s update to GE-Proton. It works with EAC. However, if you previously played the game with a different version of GE-Proton, you’ll need to remove a couple of EAC-related folders inside the game’s install directory, then verify the integrity of the game files to play it again.

Protonfixes have been added for two games: Two Worlds, and APB Reloaded. As usual, DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and Wine have been updated. Wine staging patches have been rebased, steam_helper updates have been imported from upstream, and modules from kaldi, OpenFst, and Vosk-API have been imported from upstream.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios

You'll Soon Be Able to Install Nix Packages on Your Steam Deck

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 15:15:46 +0000

A user on the NixOS GitHub filed an issue asking for Nix package support for the Steam Deck. “The Steam Deck has limited possibilities in extending it with your own software due to its read-only rootfs. You can’t just install Arch packages via pacman for instance,” they mentioned. “Flatpak is installed and enabled by default and it covers GUI apps fairly well but it doesn’t cover CLI apps at all. Nix could really shine here.”

Well, fast forward several months later, a SteamOS developer by the name of “Nephyrin” confirmed that Nix support will be provided with the upcoming SteamOS 3.5 build:

SteamOS 3.5 will have a /nix/ directory available. Currently the nix package is not pre-installed, however.

Here’s what they said regarding whether the user will have to mount their own partition:

It is currently bind-mounted to the data partition at /home/.steamos/offload/nix/ along with other ‘offload’ directories that are independent of OS update (unlike the small/volaile /var which undergoes a selective migration on update).

There may also be a /gnu mount, depending on whether Guix developers have interest.

This is great news. With this addition, users will no longer have to unlock the Deck’s immutable file system to install packages. Packages outside of the Discover store can be installed and will still remain present on the OS across updates.

If you want to try this out now, you can opt into the Main branch on your Steam Deck. I’d personally wait until SteamOS 3.5 becomes official though.

System76 Announces New PC Case With Easy-to-Access Components

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:34:20 +0000

System76 has unveiled the Nebula – the successor to the Colorodo-based company’s Thelio desktop (which I reviewed back in November). According to them, they’ve “spent the last five years…iterating on the design of their flagship desktop, Thelio.” So, here’s a few of the features that have come with this new PC case.

First, a CPU exhaust duct has been added for effective airflow. An extra cool-air intake vent has been added for “better performance under load.”

Second, the Nebula comes in a compact form factor. There are three different sizes and come with Mini ITX, MicroATX, ATX, or EATX motherboards. The press documentation mentions that the base model, the nebula19, “takes up about the same amount of desk, floor, or shelf space as a single sheet of paper.” Even though the cases are compact, components can still be easily accessed and replaced, and the two larger varients “have room for some of the largest, most powerful GPUs on the market.” Thumb screws hold the lid and GPU brace. 2.5" drives can be hot-swapped, provided that the case has been configured “with the SATA backplane upgrade.” An employee at System76 mentioned that the case is “a pleasure to work in” and that he no longer comes away with cut fingers.

Third, the CPU and GPU cooling systems are separate. You can supposedly “upgrade” the case to use “tested and recommended CPU coolers and additional GPU intake fans used in Thelio desktops” to prevent your system from getting overheated. Liquid CPU coolers can be used on the nebula36 and nebula49.

Aside from that, there are some other minor touchups, such as a “laser-engraved accent” of an astronaut on a journey. Like the Thelio, users can replace the accent on the front of the case with “wood, etched, and powder-coated aluminum accents.” Or they can make their own with the Maker Accent, or mount LED strips “to get their RGB fix.”

It’s actually great news since a lot of people, including myself, have wanted System76 to sell their Thelio case without the built-in hardware components, and now the Nebula has made this possible.

Prices start at $199, with the biggest case, the nebula49, at $329. Purchase will be available on System76’s website tomorrow. In the meantime, however, you can check out the design files on GitHub.

Proton Experimental Fixes Online Matchmaking with Street Fighter 6, Game Hosting with Grounded

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 03:50:05 +0000

Small update for Proton Experimental is out that fixes three regressions from the last update. First, keyboard input works again in Football Manager 2023. Second, there should no longer be any errors between online matches in Street Fighter 6. Lastly, Grounded can host online games again.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios

Weekly News Recap (Xbox Cloud Gaming, Further ROG Ally Linux Support, GNOME Gaming Improvements)

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 10:18:21 +0000

Steam Deck

four beta client updates and one stable that mostly is focused on bug fixes

Software Updates

Proton Experimental 6.24.2023 adds compatibility to two new games, enables NVAPI for several more titles, and has half-a-dozen bug fixes
Wine 8.11 fixes 26 bugs, including one for StarCraft II

Other

I evaluated whether Xbox Game Pass is worth your time
ASUS ROG Ally to get sound support with kernel 6.5
Phoronix benchmarks Windows 11 vs. Ubuntu 23.04 on the ROG Ally
GNOME Wayland gets performance optimization for gaming

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Spoiler Alert for Hidden Achievements, Fixes Screenshots for Non-Steam Games

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 09:54:19 +0000

During the week of June 19th there were four beta client updates and one stable update. Three of the beta updates made it into the stable update on Wednesday.

Monday - In-game Overlay Data Deletion

DualSense gamepads should now work properly when hotplugged. Three fixes for Desktop Mode, and in-game overlay data can now be cleared in the game’s Properties menu.

Tuesday - Desktop Mode Fixes and Gyro Calibration Change

Overlay UI no longer soft-locks when inviting a friend to a game. Sharing screenshots should now function properly. Desktop Mode gets half-a-dozen bug fixes, and gyro calibration now uses a time window to calibrate rather than a fixed number of samples.

Wednesday - QAM Rendering Fix

Main menu and QAM should now render properly after entering a PIN at the lock screen. “Minimum Rumble Sustain” has been reverted from 3 seconds back to 10. Gyro/accelerometer support has been added to more third-party Switch gamepads.

Later that day, all of these changes were baked into the stable update.

Friday - Non-Steam Game Fixes

Screenshots for the proper non-Steam game should now be shown. The client window opening at login or when started with -silent flag for certain startup locations is now fixed. On Windows, non-Steam games should now be able to be properly added. Finally, a spoiler alert is now shown before viewing hidden achievements.

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD, Fixes Stuttering with Street Fighter 6

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 15:29:38 +0000

New update for Proton Experimental is now out. Included in today’s update is the ability to play two new titles: StreetStep: 21st Century Basketball, and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD. Several issues have been fixed with EA Desktop, FF XIV launcher, Grounded, The Witcher 3, Dwarf Fortress SDL2 beta, and Street Fighter 6. The debug console in Scrap Mechanic is no longer broken.

NVAPI has been enabled for a few more titles:

Atomic Heart
Baldur’s Gate 3
Demonologist
Icarus
Layers of Fear
Severed Steel
Showgunners
Strayed Lights
Voidtrain
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Capcom

Wine 8.11 Fixes StarCraft II and Ubisoft Connect

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 03:38:42 +0000

26 bugs have been fixed with the release of Wine 8.11. Additionally, there are further mouse cursor clipping “improvements,” support for TLS (Transport Layer Security) alerts, and “increased available address space in WoW64 mode.”

Game-related fixes are included for StarCraft II and Lunar Magic. Steam and Ubisoft Connect also get a fix for not showing anything after launch in virtual desktop mode.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Xbox Game Pass: Is It Worth Your Time?

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 20:45:42 +0000

I have to admit, being able to stream an Xbox to your device, whether it be a Steam Deck or a Linux desktop, is pretty neat. It’s something that Sony’s tried to do with PlayStation Now, but their selection of games isn’t anywhere near as decent. And far be it from Nintendo to allow you to play any of their games outside of their native hardware, nevermind stream them.

This is possible thanks to Xbox Game Pass. Or, more accurately, Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly xCloud), that is a part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. For $15 a month, you get access to nearly 400 games. And these aren’t just any kind of games: some of them are the big, AAA hits. Some of them are available to stream the same day they’re released in physical format.

Some titles you may find noteworthy – at least at the time of writing this – include:

Among Us
Assassin’s Creed series
Banjo and Kazooie series
Cassette Beasts
Coffee Talk series
DIRT 5
DOOM series, including Eternal
Dead Cells
Deep Rock Galatic
Fortnite
Forza Horizon 4 and 5
Gears of War series
GoldenEye 007
Grounded
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Halo series
Hi-Fi Rush
High on Life
Minecraft Dungeons and Legends
Monster Hunter Rise
Persona series
Psychonauts series

And besides this still plenty of others; from some of your favorite indie hits, to family-friendly titles like New Super Lucky’s Tale, strategy, simulation, shooters, fighting games, etc. Some games have DLC included. Needless to say, I think there will be at least one game that someone will like. Though there’s not many of them, there’s even some games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360 generations that are available to stream.

New games come in every month. For example, this month, Need for Speed Unbound, Amnesia: The Bunker, Car Mechanic Simulator 2021, and a couple of other lesser-known titles were added. A caveat that you have to be aware of, however, is that as some games come in, others leave. Right now, under the “Leaving soon” category, is Road 96, Matchpoint: Tennis Championships, Empire of Sin, and a few others.

The question arises, though: is it worth paying the $15/month for?

General Experience

It’s real easy to get started with Xbox Cloud Gaming. Just use a Chromium-based browser, sign-in to your Microsoft account (sign up if you don’t already have one), get yourself an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, plug in your gamepad, direct your browser to Xbox Cloud Gaming, and get going.

It’s a small detail, but I like the looks and sounds of the interface. You can browse through the catalog of games with your gamepad, and the browser will actually play the sound effects of the main menu on the Xbox console as you’re scrolling. Install Xbox Cloud Gaming as an app, put it in fullscreen, and it almost feels like you own an actual Xbox. It’s even more nostalgic with the achievements – the same graphics and sound effects play as on console. You can browse games by category, or use the search function at the top. You can quickly jump to the Search bar with the Y button.

Upon selecting a game, pressing the A button will bring up more details for that game. Here you can see the description of the game, the ESRB rating, the languages the game supports, and a few other specifics. You can then press the green “PLAY” button when you’re ready to stream the game. Give it a few moments, and then the game will boot. When you exit the game, it will appear under the “Jump back in” section at the top of the main menu. Pressing A will stream the game without needing to see the description page.

On desktop, pressing the Guide button on your gamepad will bring up the Xbox menu. Here you can see your Xbox “friends” list, start a party (invite people to join your session), see your achievements, and quit the game. On Deck, you’ll need to tap the top-left part of the screen to make the Xbox icon visible, then tap it to bring it up. If you click or tap the three-dotted button next to the Xbox icon, you can enter or exit fullscreen, turn your mic on or off, or provide feedback to Microsoft. You’ll also be asked for feedback when quitting a game – whether you thought the experience was good or bad. You’ll then be asked what specifically you liked or you didn’t. Of course, providing feedback is always optional.

Note that, in addition to logging into your Microsoft account, some games will need one more login. For example, you won’t be able to play Redfall without logging in to your Bethesda account. You won’t be able to play Battlefield 2042 without logging in to your EA account. Sigh, yeah, always leave it to companies like EA to throw in that monkey wrench.

Linux Desktop

If your browser is installed as a Flatpak, you’ll need to run the necessary command to give it udev permissions. Otherwise, your gamepad won’t work. For instance, if you’re using the Brave browser, you’d need to run:

flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.brave.Browser

com.brave.Browser would need to be replaced with the appropriate name for whatever other browser you may be using.

Xbox controller? Who said you needed an Xbox controller? I mean, the in-game button glyphs will obviously be Xbox-oriented, but there’s nothing stopping you from using a PlayStation gamepad or any other gamepad for that matter. I played several games with my DualSense, and I had no problems whatsoever. In fact, if you add Xbox Cloud Gaming as a non-Steam app, you can then configure your controller’s gyro to mimic the analog stick. Useful for first-person shooters. Xbox controllers don’t have that feature.

So how’s the streaming experience itself? Not bad. I’m using a wired Ethernet connection, and to date I have yet to find audio desyncs or any sort of connection struggle. As far as input latency is concerned, well, I don’t have all the tools necessary to “measure” that. From the naked eye, however, it’s not very noticeable. I was able to play the rhythm-heavy Hi-Fi Rush and land my combos in sync with the beat of the tune without much trouble. I am using my DualSense via a wired connection, though, so using a gamepad via Bluetooth may be a different story.

The one caveat I will throw in here, however, is if you’re using a monitor with any resolution higher than 1080p, your video quality is going to suffer. On my 1440p monitor the video quality, while not terrible, isn’t that great either. The game looks slightly pixelated; you can tell with the screenshots I’ve posted here. Last year I had reported that users had to use an agent switcher on Linux and trick Xbox Cloud Gaming into thinking that their browser was using Windows 10 in order for the video quality to improve. I can now say that hack is no longer required. I have compared screenshots of my browser with and without the Windows 10 user agent string on Brave, and there is absolutely no difference whatsoever. This is likely due to Microsoft releasing a “set of performance improvements…via browser on Linux and ChromeOS devices.” Still, 1440p, and certainly 4K, is a no go.

There’s also the so-called “clarity boost” that Microsoft tried to offer exclusively for their Edge browser. Fact: again, during my testing, I have noticed no difference at all between Brave and Edge. Maybe there’s a specific setting that needs to be toggled in Edge to activate this feature, but I haven’t found it anywhere. So, not really any point in using Edge if anyone thinks there is, well, an edge using this browser over others.

Steam Deck

The process of getting Xbox Cloud Gaming working on Steam Deck is a little more involved than desktop. In addition to having a Chromium-based browser installed, you’ll also need to run the appropriate terminal command in Desktop Mode to get the integrated controls to work, install Xbox Cloud Gaming as an app, add it to Steam, and append a fullscreen parameter in the launch options. Still, it’s not that hard; have a look at my guide if you want to get that set up.

Since the Deck’s resolution is only limited to 800p, video quality obviously isn’t an issue here. The quality looks just fine. If you’re planning on connecting the Deck to an external monitor, don’t use a resolution higher than 1080p. Anything higher than that, and the picture will look like crap.

Even through Wi-Fi, I’ve had very little fuss over the connection breaking. The connection has always been very stable for me. So, whether you want to use a wired connection or wireless, you shouldn’t have any issues with either one.

The Positives

Games these days take up large portions of your hard drive. Ones that take over 100 GB of space aren’t all that uncommon. Depending on your connection speed, they may take several hours to download as well. Not only this, but updates happen as well, day-one patches, and all that jazz. Taking up more of your hard drive and your time to download. This is true whether you’re a PC gamer or you’re on console.

Xbox Cloud Gaming eliminates that. You have instant access to 300+ titles, and they’re ready to play in just a few moments. No need to wait several hours for a game or update to download. They’re all immediately playable and automatically have the latest updates installed.

There aren’t that many exclusives, but, if you only play on Linux and Steam Deck, you have access to titles that otherwise aren’t able to be played on these platforms. Fortnite, for example.

How about cost? You give your wallet a little bit of breathing room this way…depending on how long you choose to keep your subscription active. If I had the choice between paying a full $70 on a day-one release on Steam, or playing the same game through Xbox Cloud Gaming that becomes available to stream the same day, I’m going with the latter. Yeah, the video quality might not be as good, but I’m paying less than a quarter of the price for that game than a native Steam release.

The Drawbacks

The monthly subscription service is probably the biggest drawback. Paying $15 for one month isn’t all that bad. But if you keep your subscription active, you’ve paid $60 by the end of four months. That’s the same price of owning a AAA game on Steam that you can keep forever. In 12 months, you paid $180. That would get you three games. If you’re playing a lot of different games on XCG, perhaps the money would be worth it. But if you’re solely focused on maybe two or three games out of the entire catalog and playing them for several months, you would be spending more money on those games than just owning them on Steam.

Another disadvantage is, you can’t download these games. You need to have a constant Internet connection in order to play. So, unless you’ve got a phone plan with unlimited tethering data, you’re not going to be able to tame that turtle in ARK while you’re on the go with the Deck.

Say there’s a game that you really like. You enjoy that game, and you’ve invested a lot of time with it. And then you log in one day, only to discover it’s now in the “Leaving soon” category. Ouch. What are you going to do? Are you now going to be forced to buy the game somewhere else in order to keep playing it? And what are you doing to do about your save data? Can you resume where you left off if you own the game on Xbox? That will already be out of the question if you buy the game on PlayStation or Steam; you can’t export your save data.

A few other things that I can think of:

bad video quality at 1440p and above, as I had alluded to earlier
you can’t add mods to any games

The Choice is Up to You

There’s both good things and bad things that come with XCG. Instant access to a wide variety of titles, no need to download any updates, games that are available to you that may not be playable on Linux/Steam Deck. On the other hand, you also have to consider the fact that you’re paying a fairly hefty $15/month (and the price is unfortunately only going to get higher), you need an Internet connection at all times, a game that you may be heavily invested in may soon leave, bad video quality at 1440p and above, lack of mod support.

Whether you want to use XCG is going to depend on how many games you’re willing to play, whether you’re willing to spend that monthly fee, whether you’re okay with needing a stable Internet connection at all times, what resolution you’re planning on using, whether you’re okay without having mod support, whether you’re okay with basically being locked in to the Xbox platform as far as save data is concerned. Personally, I won’t be keeping my subscription active. I’d rather own my games on Steam, be able to mod them, play them natively on my hardware at 1440p, and not keep paying $15/month. I have enough monthly bills to pay as it is.

TL;DR

The good:

plenty of titles to choose from, from a wide variety of genres
instantly playable; no need to download or install the games themselves, updates, or DLC
works great on Deck
games that may not run on Linux or Steam Deck, such as Fortnite, are playable
access to a few original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles

The not-so-good:

Internet connection required at all times
$15/month subscription quickly adds up, and this price is going to get higher soon
not meant for resolutions higher than 1080p
games may get added every month, but others get removed
save data can’t be exported
no mod support

ASUS ROG Ally to Get Sound Support with Kernel 6.5

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 19:40:25 +0000

The ASUS ROG Ally seems to have fairly decent out-of-the-box Linux support, albeit for missing Wi-Fi. However, one detail that Phoronix omitted was the audio support. There currently isn’t any audio support for the Ally.

Well, leave it up to my buddy Matthew Anderson – one of the ChimeraOS developers – to quickly address this problem by means of a patch. In addition to the patch itself, this will also need “a patched ACPI table” or firmware from ASUS:

This requires a patched ACPI table or a firmware from ASUS to work because the system does not come with the _DSD field for the CSC3551.

This patch has already been approved for the upcoming 6.5 kernel. Great to see more Linux support for other competing handhelds out there.

In other news, Phoronix just put out a benchmark comparing the performace of the Ally with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 23.04. Spoiler: Ubuntu actually does a bit better than Windows 11 in most cases, but slightly worse than Windows 11 “Turbo”.

Steam Deck Client Update Fixes UI Overlay Soft-Lock, Improves Support for Third-Party Switch Gamepads

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 18:34:06 +0000

Less than a week after the last stable update, the Steam Deck gets another update to the stable branch. This update mostly focuses on bug fixes, although a few improvements snuck in as well.

Inviting a user to a game should no longer cause the overlay UI to soft-lock. When a PIN is entered, the main menu and QAM should now properly render.

Desktop Mode, as usual, gets a ton of fixes, ranging from small mode missing client update info, to screenshot sharing, to pop-up windows maximizing incorrectly, and everything in-between. The Achievements panel gets improved performance, and you can now clear in-game overlay data from a game’s Properties menu. Friends & Chat, the in-game overlay, and Steam Input also gets a variety of fixes. Additionally, there is “improved support” for third-party Nintendo Switch controllers.

See the full patch notes on Steam.

Weekly News Recap (Steam Notes, Steam Deck Full Shell Replacements, ASUS ROG Ally with Linux)

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 17:03:01 +0000

Steam Deck

five beta updates and one stable this week; details here
want to replace your entire shell? eXtremeRate has a guide
The Last of Us gets verified

Hardware

seems like the ROG Ally can handle Linux relatively well OOTB
RISC-V will apparently “change the world”

Software Updates

Steam desktop client updates UI, adds note taking system, enables hardware acceleration on Linux
Distrobox 1.5.0 adds NVIDIA GPU container support

Other

Ex-Zodiac is a great game to get into if you like the Star Fox series
Battle Shapers is an interesting roguelike FPS
native ports going away is nothing to worry about
removing non-Steam games now also removes shader cache/compatdata

Cover image credit: eXtremeRate

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Multiplayer Games, Improved Performance with Achievements Panel

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 15:32:53 +0000

This week there were five beta updates to the Steam Deck client – three of which made it to the stable update on Wednesday. The remaining two updates – shipped on Thursday and Friday respectively – gets a few fixes for Steam Input gyro and Desktop Mode.

Wednesday - Stable Steam Deck Client Update

Wednesday’s update covers every update that came from the beta branch, including the updates on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Included in this update is an overwhelming list of changes, including the ability to take notes with the Steam overlay. See my post from earlier this week for more details.

Thursday - Steam Networking Fix

Some multiplayer games that use Steam networking should no longer break. Multiple DS4 gamepads can now be connected. Steam Input gets a few fixes for Nintendo controller gyro sensitivity and the gyro -> joystick (steering/yoke) mode. Desktop Mode gets four fixes.

Friday - DualSense Over Bluetooth Fix

Steam Input gets a fix for “stuttery output” with DualSense over Bluetooth when using gyro as joystick output. Desktop Mode gets eight fixes, and “improved performance of the Achievements panel for games with thousands of achievements.”

Craving a Star Fox Fix? This Game Is a Great Fit

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 15:38:51 +0000

Star Fox. Oh man, the memories those games made. From the famous “Do a barrel roll!” command from the aged rabbit, to the rapidly-moving mouths of those who spoke, Star Fox for the SNES and Star Fox 64 are among some of my favorite childhood games.

The IP remains relatively dormant, however. No new Star Fox game made it to the Switch.

But I can assure you, you can relive that classic on-rails shooter nostalgia today with Ex-Zodiac. Per the Steam store page description:

A fast-paced low-poly 3D rail shooter heavily inspired by classics of the early 90’s. Join protagonist Kyuu as she fights to free the worlds of the Sanzaru Star System, overrun by the intergalactic terrorist organization known as Zodiac.

NOTE: this game is currently in early access as of the time of writing this review.

Just like Star Fox, you’re in control of an arwing that can shoot lasers, missles, and bombs. Your goal is to make it to the end of a level, defeat the boss, and move on to the next planet. Another person named Miko will be there to guide you along your way. And yes, you can do barrel rolls in this game. Obviously, that is the most important part about this game. The cherry on top is, you can play this on your PC or Steam Deck, natively on Linux, and it’s built using the open-source Godot engine.

Mind you, pretty much the entirety of this game was made by one person: Ben Hickling. He wrote the code, made the artwork, and the design for over four years. Thankfully, his Kickstarter for this game was a success when he launched it back in 2020.

What’s nice is, each planet is vastly different from the other. One level is set in the desert, with pyramids and all that jazz. Another planet is coated in a sheet of ice, yet in one part of the level there is a scorching lava cave. Each boss that you encounter also has a different personality.

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Is the game difficult? It can be, depending on how familiar you are with how on-rails shooters work. Generally speaking, the further you progress in the game, the more challenging it becomes. More enemies will be shooting at your arwing. You’ll have to watch out for that, and do your barrel rolls while you’re at it – this will deflect projectiles. So yeah, as with any game that came in the 90s, the difficulty is there as well. I personally enjoy the harder difficulty.

Defeating an enemy might yield a box. This box can repair some of your ship’s damage. Or it can double the amount of lasers that come out of your ship. Or you can add another missle to your inventory when charging your shot. Or it might add another bomb to your inventory. This touch is nice and adds some more variety to the combat. These upgrades are lost upon completion of the level.

Sometimes, however, defeating an enemy will lead to a card. Collecting this card will allow you to play a bonus stage after the boss is defeated. Kyuu uses a different ship, and this ship can rapidly shoot lasers. You can just hold the fire button down and just move around the stage while dodging incoming obstacles and projectiles. It’s pretty fun.

At the end of each stage, you’ll be ranked based on your score, the amount of enemies you defeat, the amount of damage your ship has received, and how long it took to defeat the boss. Believe me, on your first run, you’re going to have a hard time getting anything better than a C. As you become more familiar with the stages, though, it will be easier to obtain a higher ranking.

You’re not always in your arwing. Sometimes you might be riding a hovercraft. Admitedly the physics aren’t that different from using the ship; you’re just stuck to the ground. Still, nice to have different ships to use.

Needless to say, I’ve had a lot of fun with this game. And what’s nice is there is a 15 FPS cap and a retro, pixelated aesthetic that you can use for the game’s graphics. Crank that framerate down, lower the resolution, use a SNES-styled gamepad, and you’re living back in the 90s. Add a CRT for icing on the cake.

Currently the game is in early access. There are eight levels so far, and twelve are planned for the final release. The last two stages that made it in not too long ago are pretty fun – instead of making it to the end of the stage, your goal is to protect a cannon from oncoming enemy fire. If the cannon gets too much damage, it won’t be able to fire at an oncoming meteor. So it’s basically a fight to the death situation.

Works Great on Deck

I’m telling you, you could turn the Deck into a battery sipper here. You can crank the framerate all the way down to 15 FPS, set the TDP limit all the way down to 3 W, GPU clock speed to 200 MHz, set the resolution to 768 x 480, and get that SNES nostalgia. However, I do recommend setting the framerate to at least 20 FPS; 15 FPS has been a little headache-inducing for me. 16:10 is supported. Not much else to say here, other than it works very well.

Get It

I’m really looking forward to more updates to Ex-Zodiac. I have been craving a Star Fox fix for a long time, and I’m glad to see something like this come to the surface. Overall the game right now won’t take any longer than an hour to get through, but it does have some replayability thanks to the ranking system and making sure you get access to the bonus level if you missed it on the first run.

TL;DR

The good:

a game that surely delivers on the retro, 90s formula
framerate can be lowered to 15 FPS, if your brain can handle that
retro resolution makes the in-game graphics more pixelated
the closest thing we’ll ever get for a spiritual successor to Star Fox
native Linux support
built using FOSS
runs beautifully on Deck

The not-so-good:

none so far!

Ex-Zodiac is on Steam and itch.io for $10. Available natively for Linux!

Review key provided by Pixeljam.

ASUS ROG Ally: Can it Linux?

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 18:54:24 +0000

Phoronix recently reported on Ubuntu 23.04 compatibility with the ROG Ally. The gist of it is: most features worked out of the box. But Wi-Fi wasn’t working.

Unlike the Deck, you can’t access the BIOS with the handheld itself. You’ll need to attach a keyboard. “From there it’s akin to the standard ASUS BIOS configuration area.” Secure Boot is enabled by default, but it can be disabled from here.

When booting from the USB flash drive, the touchscreen support worked, as well as the graphics acceleration and Bluetooth. The built-in controls are able to make use of the Xpad kernel driver. Michael was able to monitor the SoC temperature and control the fan speed with asus_custom_fan_curve. However, the Wi-Fi doesn’t work OOTB – Michael had to use Ethernet via a USB-C dock to workaround this. It does look like there’s a patch that’s in the works, but it probably won’t show up in the mainline kernel until 6.5. The fingerprint sensor also didn’t work.

Image credit: ETA Prime

A few weeks ago ETA Prime checked out ChimeraOS with it and mentioned that the audio didn’t work out of the gate. He mentioned that Wi-Fi worked, but only “half of the time.” It wasn’t possible to adjust TDP via the Quick Access Menu; that can only be done through the BIOS. Otherwise, he mentioned “it’s actually working really well for kind of just the first install.”

Still, some pretty exciting news if you’re looking to run Linux on this handheld. It seems like, outside of some minor quirks, everything works as intended.

Cover image credit: Phoronix

Steam Updates User Interface, Adds Note Taking System, Enables Hardware Acceleration on Linux and Mac

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 04:47:38 +0000

Holy crud. It’s been three months since the last stable Steam desktop/Steam Deck client update has shipped out (well, there was technically an update in April, but all it was was a fix for Steam Input). As such, there are tons of changes, features, fixes, and everything in-between with this update.

The first thing is backend changes for a more unified codebase between the desktop client and the Steam Deck client. “Much of the work went into changing how we share code across the Steam Desktop Client, Big Picture mode, and Steam Deck,” says the Steam blog post. “These changes also means quicker implementation and iteration of new features. For example, many of the features in this update (like Notes in the overlay) are simultaneously shipping on Steam Deck because of the shared codebase.”

Next is an updated UI. You’ll notice the “dialogs, menus, fonts, and colors” have been adjusted in a way to bring “visual and usability improvements across Steam.”

What’s probably the best part of this update is an updated notification system that’s more useful to the end user. Finally, say goodbye to those annoying “You have 1 new item in your inventory” green letter notifications! “The green bell only lights up when there’s truly something new for you.” You can also customize what sort of notifications you want to be notified of.

The in-game overlay has been overhauled. The interface has been updated, along with a new toolbar that gives you access to friends chat, achievements, guides, forums, web browser, “and more. We’ve picked a few overlay windows to show by default, and you can pick and personalize the pieces of content you’d like to see in your own overlay – settings are saved between games.”

You can now take notes in-game. When you bring up the Steam overlay, you can write notes down. Rich text formatting is supported, as well as images. Notes are synced between devices, including your Deck.

You can pin notes, guides, forums, achievements, and/or Steam’s web browser to your game. These windows have an adjustable opacity. “This feature is perfect for keeping track of progress or guides while in-game, or for multi-tasking maniacs who love to have a movie on in the background while they game.”

The Steam overlay includes a Game Overview panel. “It shows what achievements you have in progress, which friends are also playing, top guides, news, and more. In addition, the browser, achievements, and screenshot manager windows have been updated (both in the overlay and in the desktop client).”

The controller experience has been improved. The controller configurator now uses the same UI that the Steam Deck has, and virtual menus can also be used.

On Linux and Mac, hardware acceleration is now enabled by default. This should result in “snappier animations, scrolling and more responsive UI.”

Aside from this there is an overwhelming list of bug fixes and other minor adjustments for Friends & Chat, BPM, Steam Input, Remote Play, and Linux-specific changes.

By extension, these changes have also made their way over to the Steam Deck. See the Deck-specific patch notes here.

See the blog post for a quick summary of the changes, and the full patch notes for more details.

Battle Shapers: An Interesting Roguelike FPS

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 16:39:22 +0000

Recently I got a chance to play the demo for Battle Shapers. You play as Ada, a spirited android, and your goal, according to the Steam store page description, is “to bring New Elysium back to the utopia it once was.” Interestingly enough the studio behind the game, Metric Empire, is co-founded by Nicholas Routhier and Pier-Luc Papineau, who previously worked at Ubisoft as design directors. They worked on the Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed, and Far Cry series.

It’s a roguelike first-person shooter. You’ll face waves of robots – who refer to themselves as the Overlords – and then, after a certain amount of stages are cleared, you’ll meet the boss for that particular area. I have to say, I’ve had a blast playing this game. There are different weapons to discover, new abilities to uncover, and permanent upgrades to be had after a game over. The game is pretty fast-paced; Ava can run around the area pretty quickly, and even more so as she punches or dashes.

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There’s no aiming down sights. Shots are always fired from the hip. But in replacement, Ada can use her mechanical fist to deliver melee attacks to her opponents. Abilities include dashing, stomping the ground with fire, wall-climbing, grenade throwing, and more. It all depends on what Ada picks up after a wave is cleared.

In addition to abilities and different weapons to use, there are occasional “perks” that enhance Ada’s health or her shield capacity, while also granting one second of invulnerability if her shield breaks or some other bonus.

The demo is rather limited in scope. There are three or four rounds of enemies, then a boss, then that’s it. An entire session will probably last around 20 minutes. Still, this game has some good potential.

Eh…It’s Alright on Deck

I’ll say this right off the bat: you won’t be able to get 60 FPS on Deck, even at Low settings. There is, however, 1280 x 800 support, and 40 FPS should be do-able in most cases. If there are a lot of enemies on screen, the framerate dips to around 30-35. I don’t even recommend setting a TDP or GPU clock speed limit. And unfortunately, as of the current build, there’s no way to make use of FSR – you can’t configure the game to run in fullscreen or windowed.

One more thing to note: this game is pretty demanding on RAM. I’ve noticed the longer the game runs, the more RAM is consumed. Eventually, I hit the 12 GB limit (due to my VRAM set to 4 GB), and the game stuttered like all heck at that point. So keep an eye out for RAM usage.

That being said, you should at least be able to get 30 FPS on low settings at 800p resolution. I have a video if you’d like to see the game in action.

Looking Forward to the Full Release

I like the fast-paced nature of this game. The combat itself is pretty smooth, and different abilities spice up the gameplay mechanics. Subsequent runs will be easier thanks to permanent upgrades at your base.

TL;DR

The good:

fast-paced gameplay
combat is very fun

The not-so-good:

could use a little more performance optimization when it comes to Deck support

Battle Shapers is coming to Steam in Early Access later this Fall. In the meantime, you can try the demo out. An updated build will be available during the Steam NextFest beginning June 19th. I’m hoping they will pay attention to Deck users and create a more optimized build for them.

Review key provided by Evolve PR

Want to Replace Your Entire Steam Deck Shell? Well, There's a Tutorial for That

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:40:59 +0000

Yesterday eXtremeRate uploaded a video going over how to replace both the front and back of the Steam Deck casing.

Replacing the back part of the shell is a very simple process: just take out the eight screws holding it in, gently pry it out (but make sure the MicroSD card is taken out if there is one in the slot), and screw the new shell in. [Read: JSAUX clear shell review] Replacing the front, however, is an entirely more complicated process. Everything, including the glued in battery and the screen, has to get taken out.

Still, if you’re feeling bold, eXtremeRate has a full video guide out now, and it’s over an hour long. The first 25 minutes or so goes over the full disassembly of the Deck. The rest of the video explains how to apply the new shell on. In addition to a Phillips screwdriver, you’ll also need a heatgun or hair dryer to take the screen off, as well as tweezers to uncover the foil tape that covers the hidden screw on the heat shield. A suction cup and a couple of picks will also help prying off the screen.

Fortunately in regards to the battery, you don’t actually have to pry it out. After taking the screen out, you can unscrew the screws holding the gray-colored “housing” which contains the battery, then easily replace it in the new shell.

eXtremeRate shells will be available to order later this month and will be available in white, purple blue, clear purple, clear black, and clear. Prices start at $36, depending on what color you choose.

JSAUX is also making fully transparent shells.

Relax. A Game That Loses Native Linux/Steam Deck Support Doesn't Mean the End of the World

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 12:48:53 +0000

A few months ago I had an opinion as to why developers should target Linux as an available platform when they export their games. My reasons were as follows: less overhead, better performance, increased battery life, and easier debugging. I still am for that argument. But only if the developer has the knowledge and is comfortable doing so. I’m not going to nudge any developer to natively support Linux if they don’t want to, nor am I going to get upset if they decide later on to drop native support altogether.

Overkill made an announcement a few days ago that Linux support for Payday 2 has come to an end:

Linux users will not receive this update or any following updates coming to PC. In addition, Linux players will be unable to matchmake with other PC clients following this update. We tried to find a solution, but ultimately found it unfeasible due to the Linux version being on an older version of the PAYDAY 2 engine.

Some have speculated that this largely has to do with the game coming to the Epic Games Store and not actually the engine being “an older version.” At any rate, guess what? Proton is here to save the day. A game that loses native support does not mean that you can’t play it on Linux or on your Steam Deck.

Image credit: Overkill

Reminds me of that whole debacle when Psyonix dropped native support for Rocket League a few years ago. Admitedly, many players, including myself, were frustrated. The developers, however, came forward and became fully transparent as to why they dropped support:

We’ll be updating our Windows version from 32-bit to 64-bit later this year, as well as updating to DirectX 11 from DirectX 9. Unfortunately, our macOS and Linux native clients depend on our DX9 implementation for their OpenGL renderer to function. When we stop supporting DX9, those clients stop working.

“Significant additional time and resources” would have to be spent continuing support for Linux and Mac OS because of this, and this couldn’t be justified with how tiny of an audience both Mac OS and Linux users are. Combined, we make up less than 5% of users on Steam. On Linux alone we barely reach 1%, and while that percentage may have perked up a little bit thanks to the Steam Deck, we’re still just a tiny, tiny fraction of the whole PC gaming market.

But guess what? Yeah, you guessed right – Proton. Proton still allows the game to be just as playable as it was when it was native. You can still run over other cars, and smash that ball right into the goal on both your Linux desktop and your Steam Deck, all without having to resort to Windows or a virtual machine. On top of this Psyonix/Valve were offering refunds to all players who were hoping to play the game natively on Linux or Mac, even if they have surpassed the two hour playing window or have had it longer than two weeks.

Image credit: Psyonix

If people get up and arms and start raising pitchforks when a company decides to drop Linux support, we’re showing hostility towards the developers. And that hostility is only going to push developers away from wanting to ever support Linux again.

Just think about it. Say a developer sells 1,000 copies of his game. 1% of those buyers are playing it on Linux – that would mean only 10 people. A few years down the road the dev says it’s no longer worth maintaining the native Linux version, since it’s a hassle trying to do so, and Proton is already available which can do the work for him and allow him to better focus his priorities on the game itself, not on supporting different platforms.

Can you really blame that developer if he decides to drop Linux support?

Linux gamers are a niche, vocal minority. And, very likely we always will be. Again, the Deck may have increased our numbers a bit. But as time goes on I’m starting to realize the nightmare that a lot of devs have when they try to maintain two separate versions of their game. It’s a lot of work for supporting just 1% of their fans – and for us just to turn our backs on them when they decide to drop native support is only going to leave a sour taste in their mouth.

1. Workload

Gardiner Bryant just released a video considering four reasons why we actually shouldn’t even want native games on Linux/Steam Deck:

The first thing is workload. Now, game developers have an enormous task ahead of them – I should know, my company has had a game in development for years. Developers not only have to establish the rules, create the art, and build a working version of a game, but they also have to port it to multiple platforms – you know, you start with PC and maybe Mac and then you put it to the Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation. But then there’s also smartphones. They’ve got to ensure that all of these disparate versions remain up-to-date, compatible with each other, and they have the latest changes intact. And this can honestly feel like a sisyphean task with that enormous workload. It’s no wonder that adding yet another platform can be out of the question for many developers.

He also mentions “many of the most common tools for developers out there include minimal support for Linux, especially in the AAA space, if any at all,” and this makes the “cost versus benefit analysis even less appealing.”

2. Lack of Knowledge

As of May 2023, there are only 1.47% of us who are using Linux/Steam Deck on Steam. Since Linux desktop adoption is so small, so is the developer talent that is familiar with how Linux works. Most game devs are not familiar with Linux system APIs, or how to optimize their games for Linux. Proton alleviates that. Devs can just focus on their game working on Windows, without having to spend the time learning how a niche operating system works, and little to no work has to be done to let the same version become playable on Linux/Steam Deck.

“No porting required.”

3. Backend Trouble

OpenGL and Vulkan are cross-platform compatible between Windows and Linux. This means that, when developing a game, there’s no need to “translate” these APIs between each platform. But many games these days use DirectX – an API meant for Windows – and converting those calls into OpenGL or Vulkan is no easy feat. Therefore, if a dev is making a game and wants it available on Linux, they’re either going to have to use OpenGL/Vulkan, or have Proton translate the calls the game is using into a language Linux can understand. Gardiner states that the former “is not a profitable thing to do on the face of it.”

Using Proton takes much of the hassle out if the game is using DirectX.

4. Native Games May No Longer Work Over Time

Games that you own on Steam that once worked natively on Linux may no longer work anymore. The Steam Linux Runtime (SLR) does alleviate some of the hassle that comes with having Linux libraries that your system can work with, but even that “isn’t perfect.”

Over time, your modern Linux system is no longer compatible with the libraries that are required by the game to run. This is due to Linux developers having poor maintainence of legacy software. Microsoft pays attention to backwards compatibility, and this is carried over into Proton. Therefore, even older versions of Proton will continue to work with “modern versions of Linux,” and they will continue to allow your older games to be played.

Image credit: Supra Games

So think back to that example of Payday 2. Would you rather have the devs be upfront and state that they are no longer supporting Linux, or would you rather wait another couple of years, find out the game no longer runs on your system because of outdated libraries, then ask for a refund out of anger because of the silence?

Native Will Make Sense…One Day

If there will ever be enough Steam Decks sold, and enough PCs at Best Buy with Linux pre-installed are bought, then natively supporting Linux will be financially viable. More and more developers will have experience with the APIs Linux uses, more documention will be available, ports will be more optimized. There will be guaranteed compatibility 10 years from now. Companies like Feral Interactive and Aspyr might actually resume their “porting” business.

In the meantime, though, we have Proton. Proton has been one of the best things Valve/CodeWeavers have brought to us. The number of games that are available to play in my library are significantly improved thanks to this. The Steam Deck would have had the same fate as the Steam Machines if it didn’t ship with Proton.

I’d like to know what you think though. Has Proton been the good “middle-ground” while we’re waiting for Linux to become more mainstream, if that ever becomes a reality?

Cover image credit: Overkill

Weekly News Recap (Deck Accessories Galore, Nobara Project Rising, Dolphin Not Coming to Steam)

Sun, 11 Jun 2023 16:32:13 +0000

Steam Deck

three beta client updates adds many fixes for Desktop Mode
dbrand announces the universal mechanical mount for Project Killswitch, which the ModCase already had
GuliKit reveals an updated version of their electromagnetic joystick module that no longer requires soldering and uses 50% less power
eXtremeRate and JSAUX to reveal a transparent shell for both the front and the back

Software Updates

Wine 8.10 fixes 13 bugs, “improves” mouse cursor clipping
Slippi 3.1.0 adds configurable chat messages
Proton Experimental 6.6.2023 adds compatibility to Lord of the Rings: Gollum, makes a fix for Ubisoft Connect
GE-Proton 8-4 fixes four games and removes the EAC workaround for Fall Guys
Debian 12 ships with kernel 6.1, GNOME 43, UEFI on ARM64 support, and tons of updated packages; adds new repo that makes it easier to install non-free firmware

Other

SMITE gets Linux EAC support (although from the comments, apparently the game doesn’t work on Deck at the moment)
Sonic Superstars coming in the Fall
I reviewed the System Shock remake. Spoiler: I had a bad time
turns out Valve told the big N about Dolphin coming to Steam
seems like Nobara Project is “the fastest growing Linux distro for gaming”
NVIDIA SHIELD controller getting support with kernel 6.5

Steam Deck Client Beta Gets Plenty of Fixes for Desktop Mode, Improves Performance with Animated Avatars

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 23:02:40 +0000

This week saw three beta updates to the Steam Deck client. Desktop Mode continues to get plenty of fixes, and there have been some adjustments as far as the gyroscope.

Tuesday - SLR Fix, Nintendo Switch “Simple Mode”

Steam Linux Runtime compatibility tools not being installed to support certain titles should now be fixed. Steam Input gets a lot of love; Switch gamepads change into simple mode when Steam Input isn’t active, and turns off the home LED. “The correction toward the average has now been removed,” as far as the gyro using yaw correction-to-the-average-heading, which was causing subtle drift over time. There’s reduced “ouija effect” when fine aiming with gyro as joystick.

Five fixes made it in for Desktop Mode, and “several items on the friends list context menu” has been rearranged and reworded to make them more clear.

Thursday - Favorite Server by IP Address

More fixes for Desktop Mode. There should no longer be a hang when streaming from a Linux PC. Favorite servers can be added by IP address in the server browser. Double-clicking the Steam icon from the system tray now opens to the default Steam window. Performance of the interface in the overlay with animated Steam avatars has been improved. Steam Input also gets a fix concerning the gyro.

Friday - Desktop Mode Fixes

Three fixes for Desktop Mode: one for GPU accelerated rendering, another for chat windows, and a third for clipped window controls.

Wine 8.10 Improves Mouse Cursor Clipping, Adds Support for Virtual Memory Placeholders

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 22:51:59 +0000

Wine 8.10 (dev release) has just been released and incorporates mouse cursor clipping improvements (by “improvements” I’m assuming they mean it happens less often), support for virtual memory placeholders, updates for local and timezone data, and all PE -> Unix transitions are now handled via the syscall interface.

Additionally 13 bugs have been fixed in this release. Game-specific fixes are included for TwitchTest and Animated Puzzles.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

SMITE Getting Linux/Steam Deck Compatibility

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:39:42 +0000

Great news for MOBA fans. SMITE will be getting Linux/Steam Deck support with the 10.6 update:

SMITE will now run on Linux systems – special thanks to the SMITE community for helping with this. A group of players in the r/smite discord made a big impact on this change.

While it mentions Linux specifically, I would assume that by extension this also means support for the Steam Deck. The EAC the game uses will now support these platforms.

Aside from that there are a ton of other features coming to the update, including new skins, UI fixes, adjusted rules for various game modes, adjusted characters, etc. See the patch notes for more info.

SMITE is free-to-play on Steam.

Sega Announces New Sonic Game That Combines Retro with Modern

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 14:11:27 +0000

Blending 2D and 3D worlds has been something that Sega has tried often – since Sonic Generations in 2012. This is their third attempt with Sonic Superstars – recently revealed during the Summer Game Fest – coming to Steam later this fall.

Still, it looks fairly interesting. Sonic returns to the 2D side-scrolling formula, while retaining his classic, slightly chubbier form, but the graphics are in 3D. Seems like a spiritual successor to Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Playable characters besides Sonic include Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Fang the Sniper, who came from Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble and Sonic the Fighters. New abilities can be retrieved by collecting Chaos Emeralds – you’ll notice in one part of the trailer the characters become voxelated squids.

Sonic Superstars is coming to Steam and consoles in Fall 2023.

Cover image credit: Sega

System Shock (Remake): Shockingly Disappointing

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 15:33:28 +0000

You’re an unnamed hacker who’s trying to get into the TriOptimum Corporation servers. Your goal is to steal military cybernetics that will enhance your natural abilities.

Unfortunately it’s not long after logging in that some folks comparable to the SWAT team break into your house with guns pointed at you. You give them the bird when they demand you turn around, and they knock you unconscious.

When you wake up somewhere else, a corporate executive offers you your life and the cybernetics you were trying to steal, in exchange for using your technical skills to break into SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimised Data Access Network), the AI that’s hellbent on destroying humanity and runs TriOp’s Citadel Station facility near the planet Saturn. You agree to the terms…but you’re in for, well, a shock.

If this premise sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you played the original way back in 1994. Nightdive Studios took on the task of remaking this classic in modern HD nearly 30 years later. Harvesting the power of Unreal Engine 4, lighting is significantly improved, graphics are obviously enhanced, and there have been some other subtle improvements, such as making the cycling of your endless inventory a bit easier.

Admitedly I never played the original, so I was going into this game with a fresh perspective. Upon the first couple of hours of gameplay I certainly got a lot of Half-Life vibes, with the sci-fi like setting and zombies chanting “I’m hungry” while they’re chasing after you. So let me just preface this by saying: if you’re the faint of heart, this game probably isn’t for you. You’re going to see floors strewn with dead bodies. Some of those bodies have been dismembered; you’ll usually see a limping arm somewhere along the hallways of Citadel Station. You’re going to see big pools of blood, and some of those pools are accomodated with spilt guts. And whenever you get a game over, you’re going to see SHODAN take over the hacker’s body. His head will be inside the machine, while the rest of his body is suspended in midair.

Seven Years in the Making

But man, this remake took a long, long time to get here. The project went on Kickstarter way back in 2016, and the game didn’t come to full fruition until it landed on Steam less than two weeks ago on May 30th. In 2018 Nightdive Studios made the announcement that they needed to “reassess our path”, shifting from Unity to Unreal, and mentioned “the more that we worked on the game, the more that we wanted to do, and the further we got from the original concepts that made System Shock so great.” As such, the project was temporarily put on hold.

Now that it’s finally here, though, I’m not sure if I’m in agreement with the “Very Positive” rating on Steam. In fact, I would label my review as controversial, since I had discovered a lot of things I simply didn’t like about the game. It wouldn’t surprise me if I get some hate for it. I couldn’t get myself to invest anything more than five hours into the game.

What I Liked

Let me start off with the positives: I like the sci-fi setting. Animations are pretty decent. The voice acting, such as the repetitive nature of SHODAN’s robotic voice, definitely hit home the point that she’s pretty scary. The cyberspace levels, where the game turns into an on-rails shooter, is nice icing on the cake, with levels that are very colorful. I like the feeling of suspense and isolation as you, the hacker, are pretty much the only human left on Citadel Station. Everyone else roaming the station is either a robot, a cyborg, or a half-dead corpse that was taken over by SHODAN. Any other human that was once a part of Citadel Station no longer exists. The only times you’ll hear a human’s voice is by picking up the various audio logs that are scattered throughout the station.

The visual upgrade in both the lighting and graphics department is certainly a welcome change; there’s one particular area in the game where you can look out a window and see outer space, along with the ring that surrounds Saturn. Even for a video game, it’s a pretty sight to behold.

Issues Galore

Aside from that, however, I was really not fond of the maze-like halls that is Citadel Station. There is little-to-no handholding in this game; there’s the brief five-to-10-minute cutscene that plays at the beginning, and from that point, you’re on your own. You basically have no idea where to go, as there isn’t a navigation system that points you in the right direction, unless you have the difficulty tweaked down. It doesn’t help that there’s a ton of doors to open, and you’re not sure what door will lead you to what. As a result, I found myself going around in circles often. Perhaps if you’re familiar with the original game, it wouldn’t be so bad, since you probably knew where to go. But by the time I thought I had finished the first level, it turned out I needed to destroy every camera in order to use the elevator – no thanks.

Speaking of difficulty, a nice perk is when you first start a game, you’re able to adjust the difficulty of various settings, such as combat difficulty, or puzzle difficulty (yes, there’s a few puzzles that need to be solved in this game). But keep in mind you cannot change the difficulty later on. There’s three levels of difficulty for each category: 1 is the easiest, 2 is in the middle, and 3 is the most difficult. I kept every category at 2.

The reviewer’s guide I was supplied with warned me that this game is difficult, and they definitely weren’t kidding. All too often I found myself cussing out loud because a cyborg zapped me multiple times with his laser, and I didn’t really have a way to combat it with the limited ammo that I had. The limited recovery items available didn’t help. And if this game was designed to give you a good jolt in the air, they certainly fulfilled their job. I would be looking at my inventory when out of nowhere a zombie approaches from the corner of my eye and starts slashing at me. The only way I can make this game easier is if I start a new game at a lower difficulty. The only way I can have a navigation system that points me where to go is to start a new game at a lower difficulty. That kind of sucks with all the progress I had made.

The autosave system is hit or miss. Sometimes the game won’t automatically save until a good chunk of the game is completed. This can be very frustrating when you get a game over – which, for me, happened quite often. You’re forced to watch that cutscene of SHODAN taking over the hacker’s body, with no way of skipping it. When you select “Continue,” you go back to the last autosave (unless you have a manual save that’s newer). That autosave might be a good hour or two behind than where you were at the game over. Now you have to go through all those maze-like doors again, watch those animations of the hacker picking up a new weapon, go through another level in cyberspace, defeat the same set of monsters, re-finish the same puzzle, etc. And if you get a game over again, well, be prepared to go through all that crap again. The only way you can alliviate the situation is by saving manually. Be sure to do so frequently. That way, after a game over, you can restart from that save point.

Don’t try mashing buttons during the game over cutscene. I did this on my Deck, thinking I could skip the cutscene. Turns out I was brought back to the main menu, and not only this, but my save data was gone! Just disappeared out of thin air! The only way I could recover the save was by transferring the save I had on my desktop. Really, really not sure why mashing some buttons would delete your save data, but do yourself a favor and don’t do that.

The Steam store page advertises the fact that it supports Steam Cloud. Surprise: it doesn’t. To pick up where I left off on my desktop, I had to manually transfer the save file over to my Steam Deck and vice versa. There isn’t any cloud save support. That’s a lie.

I’m still not done talking about the issues. On desktop (Nobara Project), the game randomly crashed. At first, I was using GE-Proton8-3. Thinking that that might have been a bit too bleeding-edge, I resorted to vanilla Proton 8.0-2. That didn’t help. I made some progress in the game, opened up the door to the toilet, and the game just shut itself off. On Deck, I wasn’t experiencing this problem. Maybe my Mesa drivers are a little too bleeding-edge? I’m not sure. But there was random crashing on desktop for reasons that I can’t explain.

Also, if you’re planning on playing this game with a gamepad as opposed to mouse and keyboard, bear in mind the game isn’t super optimized for this. You can cycle through your inventory with the D-Pad, but managing your inventory is a bit of a pain in ways that are hard to explain. You’re best off using a keyboard and mouse for now.

And besides this there are still other things I could complain about – such as the terrible default sensitivity of the camera when playing any of the cyberspace levels. You’d figure in the seven years that it took for this remake to take shape, at least some of these issues could have been addressed.

Runs Great on Deck

Despite the plethora of issues, the game runs really well on Deck, actually. You should be able to get away with Medium settings with a TDP limit of 7 W, GPU speed to 700 MHz, and resolution set to 1,152 x 720, with vanilla Proton 8.0-2. Average battery consumption with these settings is around 12 W. On Ultra settings, set the TDP limit to 13 W and GPU to 1300 MHz for the same framerate. At 30 FPS you can max out the graphics settings with a TDP limit of 9 W and GPU speed of 900 MHz. To get a full 60 you’ll need to have Medium everything and disable both the TDP and GPU speed limits – even then there are some graphics settings you may need to tweak lower to get a solid 60.

See Steam Deck HQ’s report for more details.

Not for Me

Overall I give the System Shock remake a thumbs down. Fans may be excited that a game they played nearly 30 years ago finally got a faithful remake. And to them, this game means everything to them.

In some ways I get the hype. There are things Nightdive Studios got right – the lighting, the graphics, the animations, you name it. But there are just so many things that turned me off – the maze-like system, with no way to know what’s the right way to go; the ridiculous difficulty, which can’t be adjusted after a save file is made; the repetitive game over cutscene that can’t be skipped; the unreliable autosave system; the sudden deletion of my save file; the lie about Steam Cloud support; the random crashing on desktop; the not-so-great gamepad controls…and the list goes on.

It does appear that the company behind the remake is being attentive to some of these issues, though. According to their Kickstarter update they’re looking into fixing quite a few things, such as the AI, some of the weapons, places where there might be a crash, improved throwing of the grenade, and plenty of other planned fixes. Still, I’m not planning on coming back to this game any time soon, for the reasons I mentioned above.

TL;DR

The good:

superlative lighting and graphics
decent voice acting
animations are pretty solid
performs great on Deck

The not-so-good:

no guidance system on higher difficulties
Citadel Station is a maze and often makes you go back to places you’ve already been
too hard to enjoy
difficulty can’t be adjusted
repetitive game over cutscene that can’t be skipped
save file on my Deck got deleted for the oddest reason
no Steam cloud support
autosave system takes saves that are few and far between; you often end up repeating an hour or two of gameplay after a game over, unless you save manually
random crashing on desktop
gamepad controls, while there, aren’t exactly great

System Shock is available on Steam for $40. It looks like according to the Kickstarter there will be a native Linux version “in the future.”

Review key provided by UberStrategist.

Slippi 3.1.0 Adds Configurable Chat Messages, Fixes Building on Arch Linux

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 23:26:08 +0000

With the Slippi Launcher, it is now possible to configure chat messages under the “Chat” tab in General Settings. There are 16 different messages to choose from. Tier 1 subs get access to eight “premium” messages. Tier 2 and above get access to 16.

Concerning bug fixes, it should now be possible to build Slippi on Arch Linux, and on Mac OS, chat in widescreen and special characters in chat should display properly.

Support for Ubuntu 18.04 is now deprecated since “Github effectively no longer provides CI/CD on 18.04.” Finally, the Mac OS “User” folder has been moved to Application Support since it’s required on Ventura and makes Dolphin easier to update.

“Too good.”

See the patch notes on GitHub. If you want to get Slippi set up on Linux/Steam Deck, check out my guides.

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Fixes Ubisoft Connect

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 19:00:55 +0000

Proton Experimental has now added support for the recently released Lord of the Rings: Gollum. A few more regressions from Proton 8 have been fixed: Halo: MCC no longer has broken menus, and DJMAX RESPECT V is playable again.

Along with this, a few fixes have made it in for the Ubisoft Connect invisible window, Secret of Mana having flipped videos, Call of Duty 2 hanging when a map was loaded, and Creativerse hanging when exiting from a local game.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Daedalic Entertainment

GE-Proton8-4 Fixes Four Games, Removes EAC Workaround for Fall Guys

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 20:48:45 +0000

Protonfixes have been added to the following titles:

Moero Chronicle
Shadows on the Vatican series
The Blind Prophet
Alter Ego

The easyanticheat_x64.so workaround for Fall Guys has been removed. A fix was added for the Northstar launch argument not working.

The following “upstream” tools have been added:

Proton script changes
font changes
OpenXR changes
Steam helper fixes
user_settings changes

The following tools have been updated to “latest bleeding edge” or “git”:

Wine
DXVK
VKD3D-Proton
DXVK-NVAPI

Note that, when the EOS installer is running on a clean prefix with Fall Guys, “Cancel” needs to be clicked on the second step, “otherwise Fall Guys will tell you the game is missing files and force you to exit.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Valve Told Nintendo About Dolphin Coming to Steam

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 14:19:42 +0000

In case you hadn’t caught up: the Dolphin emulator was set to launch on Steam, but was removed shortly thereafter due to a DMCA complaint.

But now we have some more insight into the whole story from the emails that supposedly have been sent between Valve and the big N. Notice this part of the email from Nintendo’s lawyers:

Thank you for bringing the announced offering of the Dolphin emulator on Valve’s Steam store to Nintendo’s attention.

So, evidently Valve informed Nintendo that Dolphin was coming to Steam. Further testimony of this is confirmed when Valve’s Kaci Aitchison reported to The Verge “we brought this to [Nintendo’s] attention proactively after the Dolphin team announced it was coming soon to Steam.” The reason for this? Aitchison continues:

We operate Steam as an open platform, but that relies on creators shipping only things they have the legal right to distribute. Sometimes third parties raise legal objections to things on Steam, but Valve isn’t well positioned to judge those disputes – the parties have to go to court, or negotiate between themselves. An accusation of copyright infringement, for example, can be handled under the DMCA process, but other disputes (like trademark infringement or a breach of contract claim between a developer and a publisher) don’t have a statutory dispute resolution process, so in these cases we generally will cease distributing the material until the parties tell Valve that they have resolved their dispute.

Valve would follow up with an email to Pierre Bourdon, the former Dolphin Foundation treasurer, and mentioned “we have removed Dolphin Emulator from STEAM unless and until both parties notify us that the dispute is resolved.”

The Dolphin team did confirm to The Verge that the emulator indeed ships with a common cryptographic key, and because of this, the big N may have the upper hand if this were to ever go to court.

So, unfortunately, it doesn’t appear Dolphin will be showing up on Steam any time soon – if at all.

Weekly News Recap (Big Linux Marketshare, Metroidvania Goodness, Ratchet & Clank Coming to Steam)

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 16:32:38 +0000

Steam Deck

three beta client updates this week
SteamOS 3.4.8 fixes Splitgate and improves performance for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
over 25% of Linux users on Steam are using the Deck

Software Updates

Proton Experimental fixes DX12 on Intel GPUs and updates DXVK to fix a regression
Heroic Games Launcher 2.8.0 adds DLC manager and the sideloading of browser apps
Wine 8.9 fixes Battle.NET and improves Wayland support

Other

Metroidvania bundle by Humble is worth taking a look at
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart coming to Steam later this summer
Street Fighter 6 gets Denuvo

Cover image credit: GOL

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Bell Icon, "Other" Tooltip, and Plenty of Fixes for Desktop Mode

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 04:08:51 +0000

Last week were three beta client updates for the Steam Deck and a stable update to SteamOS.

Tuesday - Bell Icon

If there’s not enough disk space available when downloading an update to a game, there should be an error now before running the game. A bell icon has been added to the header when there is a new notification. Rumble on DualShock gamepads is now fixed. Desktop Mode also gets a few fixes.

An in-game overlay issue with the tabbed browser has been fixed. In Desktop Mode, a “Other” tooltip has been added that explains what it contains. There’s also been two fixes for Desktop Mode.

The same day, SteamOS 3.4.8 shipped to stable with a fix for Splitgate and improved performance with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Thursday - Desktop Fixes Galore

Steam’s servers should still be able to be connected to when resuming from sleep. Desktop Mode gets plenty of fixes, and a setting has been added to “let a user decide whether Ready to Play should include streaming and whether the local computer should be the default in details.” Steam Input gets a fix for Joystick Dead Zones and gyro smoothing. Finally, a bug that caused “plain UDP connections to fail with authentication disabled” has been fixed.

Street Fighter 6 Gets Denuvo Just Days Ahead of Launch

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:41:37 +0000

Just when you thought you could play Capcom’s latest fighter without any sort of anti-tamper involved, the Steam store page for Street Fighter 6 now lists Denuvo DRM. Although, this behavior has been pretty typical of Capcom’s PC releases, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Prior to May 30th, if you had visited the Steam store page, the DRM wasn’t listed. However, if we head over to SteamDB, it looks like Denuvo got added on this date, and the store page has been updated appropriately.

Street Fighter 6 launches tomorrow on Steam for $60.

SteamOS 3.4.8 Now Stable, Fixes Splitgate and Improves Performance with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 14:02:54 +0000

SteamOS – or, as Valve has been labeling it lately, Steam Deck OS – has now been updated on the stable branch. Not too much going on with this update. A GPU crash in Splitgate was fixed with an update to the graphics driver stack, and there are performance improvements with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Proton Experimental Updates DXVK and Fixes Regression with Intel GPUs

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 13:43:11 +0000

Two small updates landed for Proton Experimental this week. First, a regression was fixed “that caused DirectX 12 games to not work on Intel GPUs.” Second, DXVK has been updated to fix another regression in games like Blazblue Centralfication, Kung-Fu Strike - The Warriors Rise, and “many other games.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Arc System Works/H2 Interactive

Must-Play Metroidvania Bundle by Humble Bundle

Wed, 31 May 2023 22:03:29 +0000

New bundle by Humble Bundle is out: Must-Play Metroidvanias. As you might have guessed from the name, this bundle is all about Metroidvanias.

The bundle – at $15 or more – comes with seven games:

You’ll also get two coupons:

50% off Zapling Bygone
20% off Rain World: Downpour

All keys are redeemed on Steam, and Hollow Knight, Lost Ruins, and Blasphemous are available natively on Linux.

Seems like a pretty decent bundle if, like me, you’re into Metroidvanias. Offer ends in three weeks!

Heroic 2.8.0 "Nico Robin" Adds DLC Manager, Sideloading of Browser Apps/Games

Wed, 31 May 2023 15:12:14 +0000

Sweet new release of Heroic Games Launcher is out, codenamed “Nico Robin.” This version comes with a DLC manager, the ability to sideload apps and games from your web browser, and the automatic downloading of Wine if it’s not found on the system.

Additionally, there’s half-a-dozen bug fixes, from the UI, to the download manager, and native Linux games not being added to the launcher. The login screen has also been made “more responsive,” and the handling of shortcuts has been improved.

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Coming to Steam!

Wed, 31 May 2023 02:34:54 +0000

While Sony has been known to bring some of their original IPs over to Steam, I was not expecting any title from the Ratchet & Clank series to come over to PC. Well, it looks like this will be happening, and very soon at that. To top it off, it’s the latest game in the series: Rift Apart.

Go dimension-hopping with Ratchet and Clank as they venture onto a PC near you for the very first time. Help them take on an evil emperor from another reality as you jump between action-packed worlds and beyond.

Looks like the PC port will have some nice additions:

ultra-wide support (21:9, 32:9, 48:9)
triple monitor support
uncapped framerate
ray-traced reflections and shadows
DLSS 3/FSR 2/Intel XeSS
DualSense haptic feedback/dynamic trigger support (in wired mode)
keyboard and mouse controls

There may very well be Steam Deck support with the mention of “portable PC gaming devices”:

Choose from a wide variety of graphics quality options to tailor to a wide range of devices, all the way from high-end PCs to portable PC gaming devices.

And guess what? It won’t carry the $70 price tag!

I’m looking forward to this. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will be available on Steam for $60 later this summer on July 26th.

Cover image credit: Insomniac Games/PlayStation

Wine 8.9 Adds Further Wayland Support, Fixes Battle.NET

Sat, 27 May 2023 05:42:02 +0000

Wine 8.9 released yesterday. Along with further Wayland support comes 16 bug fixes, an update to the Mono engine (version 8), completion of the PE conversion in the PostScript driver, GdiPlus performance improvements, and doppler shift support in DirectSound.

Game-specific fixes are included for Need for Speed Underground and Battle.NET.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Proton Experimental Fixes Black Screen on Steam Deck, Addresses a Few Proton 8 Regressions

Fri, 26 May 2023 18:52:50 +0000

No new games are playable with today’s Proton Experimental update, but nearly a dozen bug fixes have made it in. If you’re on Deck and play Last Labyrinth, there should no longer be a black screen.

A few regressions from Proton 8 have been fixed, including:

steering wheel crash fix for BeamNG.drive
flowchart crash fix for Cafe Stella
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered respects controller input
splash screen crash fix for Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb

Along with this are fixes for Creativerse, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, and Nosferatu: The Warth of Malachi (with a performance improvement). Finally, the DXVK HUD should now properly display the correct git revision.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Weekly News Recap (DeckHD, Valve Getting Sued, Microsoft And Activision Deal Making Progress)

Sun, 21 May 2023 18:45:19 +0000

Steam Deck

Four new beta client updates – deets here
I reviewed the JSAUX power bank and docking station
Valve being sued over Steam Deck and Valve Index tech
DeckHD offers to upgrade your Deck’s resolution to 1920 x 1200 and increased sRGB coverage

Native Linux Games

Kalevania might be worth looking into if you like retro side-scrollers

Hardware

Lemur Pro laptop by System76 gets a refresh with 13th-gen CPUs and DDR5 memory
NVIDIA to launch the 4060/4060 Ti on May 24th, prices start at $300

Software Updates

VKD3D-Proton 2.9 reduces RAM requirements on first-time setup, along with many other performance improvements
Proton Experimental 5.17.2023 fixes memory leak with Street Fighter 6, adds compatibility to Super Bomberman R
Project+ 2.4 adds new stages and costumes
Lutris 0.5.13 adds support for Proton and Battle.NET
Steam desktop client (beta) improves performance with NVIDIA GPUs

Other

Steam to switch from Google Analytics to their own solution
Apparently there are plans to support Roblox on Linux via Wine
EU Commission approves of MS’s acquisition of Activision

Kalevania - Retro Side-Scroller Available for Linux

Sun, 21 May 2023 18:00:57 +0000

It was recently brought to my attention that Kalevania – a side-scrolling, pixel platformer (and what looks like a Metroidvania) – was released on Steam earlier this month, and it is available natively on Linux.

The description is as follows:

Kalevania is a retro action platformer loosely based on Finnish mythology. Fight with bare hands, sword, axe, bow, and 12 runic weapons. With 50+ enemy types and collectibles, enjoy a full retro gaming experience! Play as Väinämöinen and relive classic console gaming!

And indeed it does look like a retro platformer, with SNES-style graphics. It also has an original soundtrack composed by Ilari Hannula. The Steam store page claims that the “full retro gaming experience” it delivers sets it apart from other games.

The Steam store page also warns the game can be a “bit of a performance hog” when upscaling, since it uses HTML5. If using a “slower device,” running the game at a lower resolution is recommended.

Kalevania is available on Steam for Linux and Windows for $17.

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Image Support for Game Notes, Plenty of Improvements to Desktop Mode

Sun, 21 May 2023 17:29:19 +0000

Four beta client updates have shipped to the Steam Deck last week. This week mostly focused on quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes to Desktop Mode.

Monday - Image Support for Game Notes

Everything about this update was for Desktop Mode. Images can now be pasted into Game Notes, the screenshot manager has been updated to support non-Steam games better, and there were plenty of fixes.

Tuesday - More Desktop Mode Fixes

More Desktop Mode stuff. A minimize and maximize button have been added to the standalone tabbed browser, and half-a-dozen bug fixes fixes the Downloads section, the EULA, and others. An issue has also been fixed where “locally installed tools” were prevented “from being used as default Steam Play option.”

Wednesday - Battery Full Lingery

The “Battery Full” icon only lingers in the header for five seconds now, as opposed to 60 seconds before. Manual proxy settings should now be properly applied to the integrated web browser. Rumble request frequency has been reduced – this may fix “latency in some gyro over Bluetooth setups.” A few mouse input fixes were made for Desktop Mode.

Friday - Clockin’ Time

The clock gets some love. The 24-hour time setting has been moved from Friends & Chat, since it was a duplicate from the one under General. The 12-hour clock is no longer forced on users who didn’t explicity select the 24-hour clock. A “hidden achievements” summary has been added to the bottom of the in-progress panel, and the “Invite Friend to Lobby” dialog has been improved.

Desktop Mode gets a ton of fixes and tweaks, from the “hitbox” of the bottom bar buttons, the in-game overlay, and the notification system.

VKD3D-Proton 2.9 "Greatly" Reduces System Memory Requirements, Improves CPU Performance

Sun, 21 May 2023 17:06:31 +0000

On Friday the DX12 to Vulkan translation tool VKD3D-Proton was updated to version 2.9. Some awesome additions that came with this update are “greatly” reduced RAM requirements when a game/application is run for the first time, shader compilation stutter avoidance “in some extreme edge cases,” improved performance “with certain bad occlusion query patterns,” such as Elden Ring, improved CPU performance with AMD and NVIDIA (Intel remains to be determined), improved “VRAM oversubscription behavior” when a certain Vulkan extension is supported, improved DXR 1.1 support, compatibility with DXVK 2.2, native Linux swapchain support, “several 100s of MBs of memory” saved with a RADV workaround, and much more.

There’s also plenty of bug fixes, although the patch notes mention that “listing individual games is becoming impractical at this point,” and shader bugs have also been fixed in DXIL-SPIRV.

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Lemur Pro Laptop by System76 Gets 13th-Gen CPU and DDR5 Upgrade

Thu, 18 May 2023 17:27:33 +0000

The Lemur Pro laptop by System76 gets a refresh with a 13th-gen, 10-core Intel processor (i5-1335U or i7-1355U) and DDR5 memory clocked at 4800 MHz. It’s the only laptop in System76’s lineup that offers a 180-degree hinge, as well as a 14 hour battery life. Up to 8 TB PCIe 4 storage can be configured, and up to 40 GB of DDR5.

One of the Lemur Pro’s standout features is its 14” 1080p matte display, and has a great color profile. This allows for stunning visuals and clear images, making it an excellent choice for creatives.

There’s also Thunderbolt 4 support and a DisplayPort. Ideal for traveling as the laptop is 2.54 pounds.

Prices start at $1,149. See more details on System76’s website.

Proton Experimental Adds Support for Super Bomberman R, Fixes Portal RTX

Thu, 18 May 2023 06:19:17 +0000

New update shipped to Proton Experimental as of yesterday. Super Bomberman R is now playable. If you’re planning on playing Street Fighter 6 this weekend with the open beta, well, you’re in luck, as “various memory leaks during video playback” have been fixed. Roboquest gets improved video playback, Portal RTX should now be playable, and Elder Scrolls Online should no longer display an “empty/flickering launcher window.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Konami Digital Entertainment

Project+ 2.4 Adds New Stages, Costumes, Fixes Several Bugs

Thu, 18 May 2023 05:04:14 +0000

Project+ – the spiritual successor to Project M – has been updated to version 2.4. Included in this update are four new stages, new costumes, visual revamps for others, minor character polish, a couple of bug fixes, and character-specific adjustments for Bowser, Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, and others.

See the patch notes on the official website. To get Project+ on Linux/Steam Deck, head over to GitHub and download the AppImage, the launcher, and the SD card. Extract the contents of the launcher and SD card, launch the AppImage, and point the emulator to the path of your default ISO and sd.raw files. Launch Project+ with the launcher .elf file.

If you want Project+ with more characters, I have a guide for PMEX Remix.

Lutris 0.5.13 Adds Support for Proton, Increases Responsiveness

Wed, 17 May 2023 03:02:12 +0000

It’s been over five months since the last stable update to Lutris – a convenient game launcher and manager. The wait has been worth it though, as we’ve got quite a lot of interesting new features with this update.

First, Proton is now supported. GE-Proton is used by default. But keep in mind “it is still recommended to stick with the builds provided by Lutris.”

Users with “very large libraries” will be seeing performance improvements and a more responsive UI, with “loads of other UI improvements!”

ModDB links can be referenced in Lutris installers, and Lutris also has integration with Itch.io.

Some other features:

drag n’ drop support on the main window
“missing” sidebar option added
refreshed UI for several windows
banners and cover art now shows platform badges
game count now displayed in search bar
Battle.NET integration
improved detection of DOSBox games on GOG
several other minor improvements

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Steam to Ditch Google Analytics in Favor of Their Own Solution

Tue, 16 May 2023 13:10:50 +0000

Yesterday a new blog post from the Steamworks Development team was published, going over “the future of traffic reporting on Steam.”

They emphasize “player privacy first”:

Steam will continue to not share personally identifiable information. This approach to privacy means that some trade-offs have been made along the way that limits how specific some reporting can be. In most cases, it simply means that any traffic sources that are below a threshold of volume will get reported as “other”. We intentionally don’t collect or store demographic information about users such as age, gender, or race.

Developers will now be able to get a geographic breakdown and “better identification of external sources” when they observe traffic coming to their game on Steam. Additionally, Steam’s UTM system has been updated with increased tracking percentage, one-day conversion tracking, and a few other areas.

But what’s probably the best news out of this post is Steam is no longer using Google Analytics. They will be using their own solution in the summer, rather than using the new replacement Google is using – Google Analytics 4:

As time has gone on we’ve come to realize that Google’s tracking solutions don’t align well with our approach to customer privacy, and so with the migration to GA4 we’ve made the decision to end our support of Google’s analytics systems on Steam. Instead, we’re focused on building the most useful parts of aggregated reporting into Steam itself.

So, if a company as prolific as Valve won’t use Google Analytics, it’s all the more reason why you should look into alternatives if you host your own website.

JSAUX Steam Deck Power Bank and Docking Station Review

Mon, 15 May 2023 17:54:50 +0000

When I first reviewed the JSAUX ModCase back in January, I didn’t get every accessory with it. I got the cooling fan, but I didn’t get the dock, the power bank, or the M.2 adapter. After getting in touch with JSAUX, they were kind enough to send the power bank and dock for my review. I didn’t request the M.2 adapter as I wasn’t going to put it to any use. Now that the review samples have finally been sent over, here’s my thoughts.

Power Bank

Let’s be honest…this JSAUX power bank is essentially a re-branded Baseus charger. The orange-colored cable, the shape of the brick, the layout of the ports…it’s kind of a dead giveaway. I will say this, though: it’s a pretty good combination between size and weight when putting it on the Deck. An extra two USB type A ports are provided should you want to simultaneously charge other devices, and a USB-C to USB-C cable is provided in the box. A LED display is provided that gives you an easy glance at how much battery life is left in the power bank.

As the bank doesn’t have a clip, what you do to attach this to the Steam Deck is to use the strap that’s supplied with the ModCase and wrap it around the power bank. Make sure the strap is secured tightly; the connection will be very loose otherwise.

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The Deck is fairly hefty at 1.3 pounds, but thankfully, the power bank – coming in at 425 grams (around 15 ounces) – doesn’t add that much weight while it’s secured to the back. I’ve been able to comfortably hold the Deck with the bank attached for several hours and haven’t noticed any cramps. The bank isn’t too wide so that it gets in the way of where my fingers are on the back of the Deck.

The bank has a capacity of 20000 mAh and a power delivery of 65 W. Not exactly a fan of the orange-colored USB-C cable that’s attached to it, but I guess the good thing about the bright color is it will make it easier to see in the dark. When the bank isn’t in use, you can safely tuck the USB-C cable into the port on top. However, if you have it strapped to the back of the Deck, I recommend placing the cable underneath the ModCase strap when it’s not in use; if the cable is tucked in to the USB-C port on the bank, it can get in the way of your fingers while playing.

In my testing so far, you can definitely get a full charge of the Deck when its battery is empty. I had my Deck suspended at 10% battery. The power bank completely charged it and still had 40% power left. Though, be aware that it will take a while. It took close to three hours to fully charge the Deck. (To 99% it probably would have only taken two to two-and-a-half hours, but to get to that last percent takes a lot longer.) So I can safely say you can get one-and-a-half charges to the Deck before the bank goes bonkers.

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The time it takes to fully charge the power bank depends on what you use to charge it. With the official charger for the Steam Deck, it took around two hours. Charging is done via the USB-C port. And good news is, even if the game you’re playing is tugging 20 W on average, the power bank will still increase the battery’s capacity rather than make the battery discharge at a slower pace – if that makes any sense.

The Dock

Finally, a dock that’s more unique than the rest. This one actually addresses some of the criticisms Hi-Tech Lo-Life and CryoByte33 brought out in regards to Steam Deck docks needing improvement. It has a full-size SD card slot, a MicroSD card slot just below it, a 3.5mm headphone jack, two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, DisplayPort, a USB-C port, and a 100W power delivery. And it actually has a detachable USB-C cable! Finally! Now if the USB-C cable gets damaged, you can easily replace it with another one and still get the full functionality of the dock.

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A USB-C to USB-C cable is provided, as well as a 90-degree USB-C connector. Supposedly both the HDMI and DisplayPort support 4K at 120 Hz, but I am unable to confirm since I don’t have a 4K monitor. I also see no mention of “VRR” support on JSAUX’ website. When connecting to an external monitor, you may need to go into Steam’s settings and change the audio output device; by default the Deck’s speakers are still used when connected.

What’s pretty nice is there is a “outer plate” that you can slide into the dock. When you put this on, it will provide the “slot” mechanism so you can attach it to the ModCase. Otherwise, you can keep this off and use it like a regular USB-C dock. Meaning that you don’t need to purchase a ModCase in order to use this.

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When you attach the dock to the ModCase, it basically acts like its own stand; you can place the Deck on your desk at an almost perfect 90 degree angle.

Don’t really have any complaints about the dock, except that the USB-C cable provided could be a little shorter; it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. Otherwise, the dock does its job. I was able to connect all the equipment I needed to record my video on how to set up PMEX Remix on Deck. I connected the Deck to my 1440p monitor via the HDMI port, connected a keyboard through one of the USB ports, a microphone into another, set up the mouse with Bluetooth, and I was good to go.

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The JSAUX power bank is available for $60. The Baseus power bank is essentially the same thing and available on Amazon for the same price. I definitely think it’s worth getting a power bank for your Deck if you don’t already have one; the power drains rather quickly, especially when playing games with higher graphics fidelity. The JSAUX bank, combined with the ModCase, makes it very convenient to have extra power with you wherever you go. So, whether you get the one from JSAUX, or the one from Baseus, is up to you. But when supplied with the ModCase, again, it makes extra power very convenient.

The JSAUX Steam Deck dock, when sold by itself, is $70. On JSAUX’ site it says “Coming Soon,” and I personally think that price tag is way too high anyway, so you might be better off getting the ModCase and docking station combo for just $10 more. Outside of the price, though, this docking station is quite nice. It has SD card slots, a headphone jack, and a detachable USB-C cable, along with all the other ports you could possibly think of.

TL;DR

The good:

power bank is light and small enough to not get in the way of your fingers
easy to monitor how much power is left in the bank with the LED display
dock has detachable USB-C cable, 3.5mm headphone jack, SD card slots
dock has “outer plate” attachment so that you can use it with the ModCase

The not-so-good:

can take a while to fully charge the Deck with the power bank
ModCase strap isn’t the sturdiest when it comes to keeping the power bank secure
USB-C cable supplied with dock could have been shorter
dock’s $70 price tag is too high

If you would like to read more about JSAUX’ Steam Deck accessories, check out my ModCase review.

Review samples sent courtesy of JSAUX.

Weekly News Recap (F**K Nintendo's Lawyers, ChimeraOS Juicy New Update, Roblox Broken)

Sun, 14 May 2023 17:08:17 +0000

Steam Deck

four beta client updates and one SteamOS preview update that fixes Splitgate – more details here
new skin inspired by Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
I posted a video comparing Ryujinx and Yuzu performance with Tears of the Kingdom
I posted another video on how to set up PMEX Remix

Software Updates

DXVK 2.2 improves compatibility with game launchers, fixes several game-specific bugs
ChimeraOS 42 supports the Aya Neo 2, bakes in OpenGamepadUI
Mesa 23.1 improves game load times, reduces stutter, and reduces shader size
GE-Proton 8-3 fixes regression with video playback not working
D8VK 1.0 fixes many D3D8 titles
Wine 8.8 fixes 18 bugs

Other

Sonic P-06 is a fan-made remake of Sonic ‘06, works great on Deck
Roblox no longer playable on Linux

Steam Deck Updates Fix Splitgate, Adds Performance Improvements

Sat, 13 May 2023 07:04:00 +0000

This week there four updates to the beta Steam Deck client and one preview update for SteamOS. As you might expect, quite a number of fixes made it in, from Desktop Mode, to Steam Input, to the screenshot manager, and everything in-between.

Monday - SteamOS Update with GPU Crash Fix

SteamOS 3.4.8 (preview) updates the graphics driver that fixes a GPU crash with Splitgate.

Tuesday - Spell-Check Toggle

Tuesday’s Deck client update adds “minor performance improvements when changing sections,” adds a toggle for spell-check when making notes, and includes several fixes for the screenshot manager, friends and chat, in-game overlay, BPM, Steam Input, and Remote Play Together.

Wednesday and Thursday - Achievements Filter, Dynamic Scaling

Wednesday’s and Thursday’s updates were minor in nature. Wednesday added a filter to the Achievements list and restores the display of Special Offers in the What’s New section. Thursday added a few fixes for Desktop Mode and ‘dynamically updates the UI’s scaling factor when the system scaling setting changes.’

Friday - Notification Indicators, Desktop Mode Improvements

On Friday “new notification indicators” were added, adds new “In Progress” section to the Achievements panel in Desktop Mode, tons of fixes/improvements for Desktop Mode, and Steam Input updates the Controller Summary page “so that it scales better at different sizes.”

Tears of the Kingdom Skin Tells Nintendo's Lawyers to "Go F**k Yourself"

Sat, 13 May 2023 04:07:44 +0000

While I’m not a fan of dbrand’s prices, I do admire their audacity.

Earlier this year dbrand invented the SwitchDeck, a skin for the Deck that largely resembles the original appearance of the Switch. And now, they’ve created Clone of the Kingdom. As you might imagine, it’s a Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom-inspired skin for both the Switch and the Steam Deck.

Contrary to popular belief, you need to spend money to save money. Specifically, by giving it to us. You see, when one of the world’s most litigious companies announces a $359.99 price tag to replace your Switch with a limited edition variant, only dbrand is up to the challenge of charging you slightly less for a “creative reinterpretation” of their overpriced novelty console. If a dollar saved is a dollar earned, Clone of the Kingdom is the easiest $310.04 you’ve ever made.

You should read the rest of their product page for a good chuckle. You may notice the Triforce on the Switch version was replaced with The Eye of Providence. Somehow, The Verge was able to decode the text on the skin as reading, “Go f**k yourself lawyers.” The code surrounding the circle is decoded as, “This funds our legal defense.”

That’s on the Switch version of the skin, anyway. There’s some text on the Steam Deck version; I’m not sure if it’s any different. Looking it up didn’t bring any results.

I can’t help but put a smile of satisfaction on my face as the very company is giving the big N the big middle finger.

You can order the skin on dbrand’s website. The $50 price tag is a little over the top for my tastes, but hey, no other company would have the courage to stand up to Nintendo’s lawyers like this.

DXVK 2.2 Introduces D3D11On12 Support, Improves Compatibility with Game Launchers and Visual Novels

Fri, 12 May 2023 20:32:04 +0000

Shortly after the release of D8VK 1.0 comes DXVK 2.2. It’s a pretty hefty update that “introduces support for creating D3D11 devices from a D3D12 device,” improved compatibility with game launchers and certain visual novels that use Microsoft’s WPF toolkit, less redundant logging, along with plenty of bug fixes.

Keep in mind that even though there is improved game launcher compatibility, there is “a noticable performance hit.” Users are encouraged to report the full Proton log when filing bug reports.

Additionally, there are in-game videos fixed with certain titles, improved performance with others, and memory leaks have been addressed:

in-game videos for Jade Empire and Sid Meier’s Pirates fixed
Total War: Shogun 2 no longer runs out of address space when using the D3D9 renderer
performance issues with “recent RE engine games (D3D12)” fixed on systems with multiple GPUs
“significantly reduced memory usage” for games that create “unused D3D11 devices”
Battle Fantasia Revised Edition now capped to 60 FPs “to work around game bugs at higher frame rates”
missing geometry fixed with Cold Fear
Dawn of Magic 2 should no longer crash on start
Alt+Tab hang with DC Universe Online now fixed
low GPU performance and rendering issues on Intel with Far Cry 2 has been worked around
fixed memory leak with Halo: MCC
fixed shadow rendering with Warhammer 40k: Space Marine

Proton Experimental should add this release in soon, if it hasn’t already. GE-Proton likely has this baked in already since every release updates DXVK to the “latest git.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

ChimeraOS 42 Adds Support for Aya Neo 2, OpenGamepadUI

Thu, 11 May 2023 14:41:30 +0000

The fantastic console-oriented distro ChimeraOS has been updated to version 42. The developers have worked very hard on this release, ensuring any last-minute crashes were fixed. This update removes old BPM, upgrades GNOME to version 44, adds experimental support for OpenGamepadUI, better support for Aya Neo devices (the Aya Neo 2 in particular), a way to manage multi-GPU systems via the CLI, Chimera app improvements, and more than half-a-dozen bug fixes.

Software updates are as follows:

kernel: 6.1.27
Mesa: 23.0.2
NVIDIA driver: 530.41.03
GNOME: 44

Features:

two experimental sessions for OpenGamepadUI
LEDs on various Aya Neo devices can now be controlled via the AYALED service
exposed fan control support for Aya Neo 2/Geek
pikaur AUR helper added “for simpler troubleshooting and development usage”
CLI utility to manage multi-GPU systems has been added

Improvements:

“usability and aesthetics” of the disk management utility in the Chimera app
controller support for GPD Win 4
Chimera app can be launched with the LC button on the Aya Neo 2
Chimera app: built-in TDP controls for Aya Neo 2
Chimera app can be launched from the desktop
Chimera app shows app and game titles from Flathub, GOG, and EGS “for easy searchability”

Fixes:

secondary drives are automatically mounted
boot splash screen
bootloader generator “that failed to pickup additional kernel options”
devices suspending immediately after waking
duplicate key presses on Aya Neo 2/Aya Neo Geek
button mapping in RetroArch emulators “for devices managed by HandyGCCS”
MangoHUD displaying in the center of the screen for “left-rotated” displays
MangoHUD not displaying the overlay correctly “with systems with multiple CPU cores/threads”

Other:

old BPM has been removed, as well as steamos-compositor-plus
updated “device quirks script” for AOKZOE A1
brightness control switched to polkit

Please be aware that if your system is using legacy/BIOS boot or a MPR partition type, you will need to re-install your system. Upgrading ChimeraOS from an older version should still be possible, but upgrading as soon as possible is recommended “to avoid getting into an unbootable state.”

See the patch notes for more details.

Have You Played...Sonic P-06?

Thu, 11 May 2023 05:55:58 +0000

Oh man. That dreaded Sonic game from 2006. The game that no one wants to remember for its graphical glitches, poor camera system, painstakingly long load times, the cringe moments where a princess might kiss a hedgehog, and a plethora of other issues.

But what if I told you there was an unofficial remake that addresses several of these bugs? No, the cringy cutscenes are still there. But the camera system is drastically improved, the graphics are better, and load times are faster. Sonic and Silver move faster; other characters have had their attributes altered for a better experience.

Not only this, but the project aims to restore some of the content that was removed during the development of the original game. For instance, the player has the choice of using Sonic’s animations from the 2005 Tokyo Games Show, or the ones that showed up in the final product. Players have the option to use PlayStation icons instead of Xbox. In-game cutscenes and hint icons can be disabled.

This is thanks to Project ‘06, or Sonic P-06. The project is spearheaded by programmer ChaosX. This isn’t a PC port of the original game; ChaosX, with the use of the Unity engine, made most of the resources in the remake from scratch, from the animations, textures, shaders, and so forth. Other contributors would later join the project to improve model compatibility with Unity, improving the collision detection system, the model rigging, etc.

While the remake is only available for Windows, it works fantastically on Linux/Steam Deck with the use of Wine and Proton. Keep in mind that the entire game is not available to play at the moment; new versions are being gradually released every few months that add more content, but currently, the story mode is not available. Only character-specific missions are available, although there is a “test area” in which you can switch between the nine playable characters. The latest update shipped with Silver’s missions.

There’s a modding community behind the game as well, so if you want to skip the intro, replace Sonic’s model, or play an entirely different level, chances are there’s a mod for it.

Optimal Settings on Deck

I have had the best experience using GE-Proton. 8-3, specifically. If you use vanilla Proton, you’re going to get that checkered background in the main menu (for missing media codecs). Using Wine fixes the video playback, but some text in the game’s menus are rendered invisible. So GE-Proton8-3 is the version I’d recommend using.

Available resolutions are anywhere from 320 x 200 to 1280 x 800. Advanced graphics options such as draw distance, texture quality, and shadows can be adjusted anywhere from very low to very high. Display mode can be adjusted to fullscreen, fullscreen borderless, or windowed.

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Even with the resolution set to 640 x 400 with FSR scaling enabled, the game struggles maintaining a smooth 60 FPS on the highest graphics settings, at least with Sonic’s first level, Wave Ocean. Some areas will be 60, other areas can dip down to 45-50. Average power consumption is around 25 W. Temperature is around 78 degrees C.

I noticed when I lowered most of the graphics settings from “Very High” to “Medium,” the framerate was a lot more consistent. Battery consumption also went down to around 18-20 W. However, I still don’t recommend setting a TDP limit or GPU clock speed limit here, as the framerate can still dip in the busier areas in the game.

A more optimal build would be using the Golden 40 standard. I have been able to get away with a 6 W TDP limit, and a GPU clock speed limit of 600 MHz, on the highest graphics settings, and still maintain a relatively stable 40 FPS. You may want to be a little more generous though and increase the TDP to 7 W and GPU speed to 700 MHz. Battery consumption is halved at just 12 W, and the CPU/GPU temp is significantly lower as well at 55 degrees C.

YouTube footage available here.

A Game Worth Revisiting

Sonic P-06 is the much-needed makeover that Sonic 06 needed, and at 40 FPS it plays very well on Deck. GE-Proton8-3 is recommended for video playback.

To get Sonic P-06, download it from Google Drive in Desktop Mode, extract the zip file, right-click the “Sonic the Hedgehog.exe” file, and select “Add to Steam”. From there you can use the SteamGridDB plugin in Game Mode to add custom artwork. Force the game to use GE-Proton8-3.

Can’t wait for further updates to this remake!

Mesa 23.1 Improves Game Load Times, Reduces Stutter, and Shrinks Shader Cache Size

Thu, 11 May 2023 05:09:48 +0000

Mesa 23.1 was released 12 hours ago. While the patch notes haven’t been posted yet, we can get a glimpse of what’s new with this massive update thanks to the article from Phoronix:

faster game loading times and less in-game stutter
smaller shader cache – as much as 60% in some cases!
RadeonSI Rusticl OpenCL support
support for AMD’s GFX940
improvements to Zink
initial support for Intel Meteor Lake
initial LoongArch CPU support
Intel Vulkan video support
a ton of other features

Arch users will likely get this update almost immediately. Fedora users may have to wait a while. And hopefully SteamOS 3.5 will get this upgrade soon, as Steam Deck users will especially benefit from this.

GE-Proton8-3 Fixes Video Playback Regression, Applications Going to Windowed Mode

Thu, 11 May 2023 04:34:49 +0000

Small update out for GE-Proton. With 8-2, video playback didn’t work. That issue has been solved with 8-3, now that Wine has been updated to “latest bleeding edge.” Another issue that got fixed is applications should no longer switch to windowed mode when Alt + Tabbing or when they lose focus.

DXVK and VKD3D-Proton have also been updated to the “latest git.”

To go along with this, Wine-GE-Proton8-5 and Lutris-GE-8.7-1-LoL have also been released.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

D8VK 1.0 Adds Many Game-Specific Configurations, Features, and Tweaks

Wed, 10 May 2023 17:05:28 +0000

D8VK – the project responsible for translating Direct3D 8 titles to Vulkan – sees a massive update with version 1.0. It’s been over five months since the last release, and the patch notes mention 1.0 “is the definitive release…with the widest possible support for Direct3D 8 games and apps on Linux.”

Great news with this release is that D3D9 is now statically linked with d3d8.dll. Meaning that you no longer need to install d3d9.dll for D8VK to work. “Countless game-specific configurations and minor features and tweaks” also made it in, along with a ton of other changes. Many bug fixes have been baked in as well, including a game-specific fix for Red Faction.

If you look at their benchmark chart, you’ll notice D8VK is significantly faster than WineD3D and D3D8to9. For instance, the Car Chase implementation with 3DMark 2001 SE performs over 1.5 times faster than WineD3D on High settings at 553.8 FPS. It runs more than three times faster than D3D8to9 with DXVK 2.1.

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: AlpyneDreams

You Can No Longer Play Roblox on Linux/Steam Deck

Tue, 09 May 2023 21:15:42 +0000

Forum user Jrelvas had reported Roblox using a new 64-bit client that has Byfron implemented. With this new client, Wine users are met with the message, “Wine is not supported.” Think you can use a VM? Think again – “You have been kicked due to unexpected client behavior.” The original poster thought the lack of Wine was unintentional.

But MrEaker from the Roblox staff replied:

Unfortunately this block was intentional. With the Windows 64-bit client launch we made the conscious decision to block the use of Wine. We came to this decision due to a combination of security and compatibility concerns. As a Linux user I am sure you understand the challenges of the Windows ecosystem. Wine is not officially supported but we are committed to working towards compatibility where possible. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a specific timeline for this support. However, I assure you that it remains a priority for our team.

Naturally, the subsequent posts following that response shows frustration and sadness. This not only prevents Linux desktop users from playing the game; anyone who uses a Steam Deck also won’t be able to run it. MrEaker mentioned “we are committed to working towards compatibility where possible,” but another person from the Roblox staff more recently said, “From a technical and philosophical perspective, it would be a wonderful thing to do. But our first responsibility is to our overall community, and the opportunity cost of supporting a Linux client is far, far too high to justify.”

Guess you’ll have to look into alternatives.

Cover image credit: Jrelvas

Weekly News Recap (DMCA Showdown, Framework AMD Laptops, Discord Usernames)

Mon, 08 May 2023 02:49:08 +0000

Steam Deck

four beta updates shipped to the client, with tons of bug fixes. More details here

Hardware

Framework releases more details regarding their AMD-powered laptops

Software Updates

Steam desktop client (beta) will honor your global scaling factor
GE-Proton 8-2 fixes Monster Hunter: Rise, Shatterline, and Conception Plus
Proton Experimental 5.5.2023 adds compatibility to Gunfire: Reborn, improves load times with FF XIII
Proton 8.0-2 improves compatibility with Elden Ring, fixes Ubisoft Connect overlay
Rare 1.10.0 improves startup time and cloud save handling

Other

thank you for your wonderful support!
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaks are getting out of hand
only two trailers are allowed now with games on the Steam store
Discord to change the way usernames are handled
here’s another launcher for you: Cartridges
the big N – you guessed it – DMCAs the lockpick project for dumping your console’s system keys

Steam Finally Respects Your Global Scaling Factor

Sat, 06 May 2023 06:41:31 +0000

With the latest beta update to the Steam client, you no longer have to squint your eyes while looking at your game library on larger displays. Steam will now honor GNOME, KDE, and any other desktop environment that uses org.gnome.desktop.interface/text-scaling-factor for display scaling. If you adjust the global scaling factor for your display, all of the UI elements in Steam will also be adjusted.

This was a problem since 2018, and now Valve has finally addressed this with yesterday’s beta client update. GDK_SCALE has also been re-introduced “as a fallback mechanism to compute the window scaling factor.” You can override the window scaling factor via the command line with -forcedesktopscaling <float>.

A few other fixes made it with yesterday’s beta update as well; see the patch notes on Steam.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Virtual Menus in Desktop Mode, Adds Find Bar, and Respects Scaling

Sat, 06 May 2023 05:43:08 +0000

It was a busy week with Steam Deck updates. There was a beta update to the client every day except Wednesday, and each update had plenty of fixes, particularly for Steam in Desktop Mode. A feature or two has been added here and there, with a find bar, comment thread location update, and Steam finally honoring the system’s global scale factor.

Monday - HTTP Transfer Fix

Monday’s update fixed a crash related to HTTP transfers, adds four fixes to Desktop Mode, and fixes Virtual Menus.

Tuesday - Find Bar

A “find bar” was implemented in a web page with Tuesday’s update. The product name when activating said product was added. The first unread comment in a thread is where you’ll go to now when tapping a comment notification. You now have the option to restart later rather than restarting immediately when applying certain settings. Missing inputs have been added to the “Listen” dialog. Many fixes made it in with the UI, the screenshot manager, and Steam Input.

Thursday - Bits-Per-Second

With Thursday’s update, the default display with the download rate has been changed to bits per second. The download throttle setting field is now honored when adjusting the bits-per-second/bytes-per-second toggle. Desktop Mode got much love with this update; tons of fixes to the Friends List, screenshot manager, and the in-game overlay.

Friday - The Big Black Rectangle

Finally, the “big black rectangle” sometimes showing up in “small mode” when starting up should no longer appear with Friday’s update. Context menus should no longer get “squashed” in “small mode.” Steam Input gets a fix, and Steam now uses “the system’s global scale factor as configured in KDE/Gnome settings.” These changes are all for Desktop mode.

I counted the word “fixed” 33 times for this week. Yeah, that’s a lot of fixes. So when those of us on the stable branch get an update, it’s going to be pretty big.

GE-Proton8-2 Fixes Monster Hunter Rise, Shatterline, Conception Plus

Sat, 06 May 2023 05:18:22 +0000

GE-Proton8-2 mostly focuses on bug fixes and getting games to work again. Of course, in addition to this, the usual set of software tools – Wine, DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, DXVK-NVAPI – have been updated to the “latest git” or “bleeding edge”.

Monster Hunter: Rise should no longer have any flickering issues, Shatterline now works again, a Protonfix was added for Conception PLUS, and a couple of other minor behind-the-scenes changes have made it in.

Interestingly enough the README for GE-Proton has been updated with instructions for adding said compatibility tool for the Snap version of Steam. Unsurprisingly, though, it’s not officially supported by the developer:

This unofficial build isn’t supported by GloriousEggroll nor Valve and wasn’t tested with all possible games and cases. It can behave differently from upstream builds. Use at your own risk.

But installation is pretty much the same as installing it via Flatpak or a native package; just download the latest GE-Proton release and extract it to ~/snap/steam/common/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d/.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Capcom

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Gunfire: Reborn, NVAPI Support to Redfall and Returnal

Sat, 06 May 2023 04:51:35 +0000

New update for Proton Experimental has shipped as of yesterday. Gunfire: Reborn, a roguelike FPS, is now playable.

NVAPI support has been added to Dead Space remake, Forspoken, Forza Horizon 5, Hi-Fi Rush, and many other hits:

Chernobylite Enhanced Edition
Dead Space (Remake)
Forspoken
Forza Horizon 5
Hi-Fi Rush
Marvel’s Avengers
Monster Hunter Rise
Need For Speed Unbound
Nioh 2
Propnight
Redfall
Returnal
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
SCP: 5K
Scum
The Last Of Us Part I
Watch Dogs Legion

Loading times with Final Fantasy XIII have been improved, and the Steamworks SDK has been updated to 1.57 – I tried to find the link to the changelog, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.

The EA launcher has been fixed once again, as well as the Battle.NET launcher, Red Dead Redemption 2, games using the Unity engine, and Elder Scrolls Online:

Fixed Tales of Berseria suffering from screen tearing with vsync turned on while in fullscreen / borderless.
Fixed EA launcher crashing and removed the previous workaround.
Fixed Red Dead Redemption 2 taking long time to exit with Alt+F4.
Fixed Battle.net not starting.
Fixed cutscenes freezing in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Fixed multiple Unity titles flickering on the Steam Deck when switching display window options.
Fixed The Elder Scrolls Online wrongly claiming not enough space.
Fixed The Elder Scrolls Online launcher showing blank window.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Criterion Games/EA

Thank You for Your Support

Thu, 04 May 2023 15:03:55 +0000

Just wanted to provide a quick update on that post that I wrote over the weekend about moving on.

You would think the Internet would be the last place to get support and encouragement, but I can’t believe the amount of comments that came in, the DMs I got on Discord, and the replies I got on Mastodon. They were all very supportive. Even Joey Sneddon from OMG! Ubuntu and OMG! Linux came in to offer words of comfort. I didn’t get one negative or critical remark. It was surprising. In a way I kind of feel bad now for expressing how I felt; I felt like I was just dumping my stress out on anyone who read that post. I didn’t mean to add to anyone’s burden. All of us have got plenty enough to deal with already. I guess I’m just new to this thing called “burnout” that every content creator/journalist and their brother has to deal with.

LGC isn’t going away. But I need to slow down and resist the urge to immediately report on something the second the news goes around. As some of you had said, it’s how I deliver the news that you appreciate; not how quickly I get to it.

I compiled a list of your comments into a document, printed it out, and stuck it on my fridge. It’s funny, I bought this Xbox fridge several months ago and I barely used it, but now I have a purpose for it: it will serve as my reminder whenever I need a “pick-me-up”. Ignore my poor cutting skills and the use of scotch tape to keep the comments on; I know it makes the fridge look rather ugly, but in a sense it sparks beauty in other ways. Not only because of the lovely artwork my friend’s wife made, but also your wonderful comments. It’s something I can quickly look to when I’m sitting here at my desk, and they will always be here if in case Mastodon, Discord, or any of those places go away.

I filled every side of the fridge with the comments, including the back. The left side is full of the DMs that I got, so I won’t be showing that part, but I can assure you they are just as comforting as the rest of the comments are. Some of these comments were written months ago, but they still hold just as much value today as they did back then.

While it will likely always be a battle trying to fight off feelings of envy for the things other content creators get, or the amount of popularity they have, there’s one thing that I have that most of them don’t: a support line. My “fanbase” may be small. It may be niche. But I think what could potentially make other creators/journalists envious of me is how loyal my followers are. I don’t think they get the same amount of support and encouragement that I do. Sure, I’ve had to occassionally deal with toxic commenters – no journalist is immune to that. But it’s far, far less than what the bigger guys have to put up with.

So, Linus Tech Tips might get early hands-on with the ASUS ROG Ally. ETA Prime might get sent every handheld in existence. They might get paid the big bucks in addition to having a “free” review unit. But I get the loving support of my followers and readers. I may have never seen your face before, and a lot of you comment anonymously, so I don’t even know your name either. But the fact that you take the time to write your thoughts down…it means a lot to me. Someone even stuck up for me when I was moderating the toxic comments I was getting on the negative Steam review post.

Thank you for your support, and the wonderful, upbuilding comments that you have sent. It has helped me out more than you know, and now that I have your comments readily available to read at any moment’s notice, it should serve as my “therapy” whenever I need it. I also got a few donations since writing that post, so thanks for that as well.

I’m also happy to announce that from time-to-time I’ll be writing for another Steam Deck website that has more outreach than I do, in addition to writing here on LGC. Don’t want to get into too much detail about it at the moment, as I’m still working out details with the website owner, but hopefully it will spread the good word around and give me some opportunities that I’ve never had before.

Again, thank you for your love, your support, and your encouragement. If I ever do go on a rant like that in the future…well, let’s just say I’ll try to keep the rants to a minimum. There’s a lot of negativity out there in the world and I don’t want to be another source of that. I want to keep this website positive, clean, and useful.

TL;DR

thank you for the support
LGC will still be around, but articles may be showing up less frequently
partnering with a Steam Deck-related website

Proton 8.0-2 Improves Elden Ring Compatibility, Adds Workaround for EA Launcher

Tue, 02 May 2023 19:05:44 +0000

Elden Ring at one point did not work with Proton 8 and had to be used with Proton 7. Well, today’s update to Proton 8 now improves compatibility with said title, although the patch notes mention “it can still be finicky.”

Most of the updates in Proton 8.0-2 are backported changes from the latest Proton Experimental. Several fixes have been added to the Ubisoft Connect overlay, Trackmania, Baldur’s Gate 3, Divinity: Original Sin, Path of Exile, and Red Dead Redemption 2, whether it was a crash, a memory leak, or a black screen.

If you happen to use the EA App, a “temporary workaround” was added to keep it from crashing. Bear in mind the Deck’s OSK “may not pop up automatically while using it.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Alas, The Leaks of the Kingdom Have Spread Like Wildfire

Tue, 02 May 2023 14:29:22 +0000

I don’t think it really comes as a surprise that one of Nintendo’s hottest lineups of 2023 have started to appear online before it officially hits retail shelves. But what comes more of a surprise is how early the game got leaked.

Physical copies of Tears of the Kingdom might have fallen off a truck while en route to its destination; people have managed to obtain these copies and sell them up to $300 on eBay just yesterday. It would naturally follow that a few hours later, these copies would be dumped and then distributed online. So, people have been able to play the game nearly two weeks ahead of schedule. Some have even had the audacity to publicly stream the game on Twitch, only to naturally get hit with a copyright strike half-an-hour later.

I’m relieved to tell you there is no DRM. Well, at least for the time being. There might be DRM when the game officially launches on the 12th, but seeing as it can run poorly on native hardware, I really can’t imagine even more overhead being tossed in with Denuvo running on top. This means people have been able to get Tears of the Kingdom running on both PC and Steam Deck with Ryujinx. According to the Yuzu developers, they won’t be adding support for the game until it officially launches.

Viewsink managed to see a Reddit post of TOTK running on Steam Deck before the user deleted their post. Reddit user Unknowntypebeat mentioned the game runs around 15 to 20 FPS, with the UMA frame buffer size set to 4 GB. Doesn’t seem too bad, actually!

In the meantime, as a lot of other folks have cautioned, if you don’t want spoilers, you may want to avoid YouTube or other websites that are already leaking footage of the final boss and whatnot. As aggressive as the big N is with their copyright strikes, I don’t think they’re going to be able to keep up with all the leaks that are being uploaded.

Cover image credit: u/slash9492

Rare 1.10.0 "Garlic Crab" Improves Startup Time, Cloud Save Handling

Mon, 01 May 2023 17:21:21 +0000

Nice new update out for Rare, an open-source EGS client for Linux/Steam Deck. Included in the “Garlic Crab” update is improved startup time, Origin game detection, updated library design, status info for each game, the ability to pause downloads, quick access to per-game environment variables, updated cloud save handling, several bug fixes, and plenty more.

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Weekly News Recap (Steam Deck in Japan, UK CMA, Turret Being Controlled by a Deck)

Mon, 01 May 2023 12:19:28 +0000

Steam Deck

preview update improves performance with Jedi Survivor, beta adds soundtrack playback controls, stable fixes an issue with controller layouts – more info here
I have a guide for getting Xbox cloud gaming set up
making a game native to Linux offers a few advantages
Street Fighter 6 – don’t use graphics settings any higher than Normal
improved color management coming to SteamOS 3.5
you can use a Deck to control a turret
Grounded gets full Deck support with the new 1.2 update
Boiling Steam covers the Japan launch of the Steam Deck

Software Updates

GE-Proton 8-1 fixes Daedalic titles, Megadimension Neptunia VII, and Overwatch
Proton Experimental 4.26.2023 adds compatibility to Minecraft Legends, improves compatibility with Elden Ring
Wine 8.7 adds a fix for Final Fantasy XI and the Genshin Impact launcher
Steam beta desktop client gets improvements to the overlay and a ton of other new features
EmuDeck 2.1.0 gets a refreshed interface, supports more emulators
Kernel 6.3 gets native Steam Deck controller interface support, better power efficiency with Ryzen laptops

Other

I reviewed a Metroidvania called Trinity Fusion
UK CMA blocks Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard over cloud gaming concerns

GE-Proton8-1 Rebases to Proton 8 Experimental, Fixes Overwatch from Losing Focus

Mon, 01 May 2023 04:30:03 +0000

GE-Proton8-1 has been released, and as one could probably tell from the versioning number, it has now been rebased to Proton 8 – experimental.

The following tools have also been updated or rebased to the “latest experimental” or “latest git”:

Proton-Wine
Wine-Staging
Proton-GE game patches/pending Wine upstream patches
DXVK
VKD3D-Proton

Fixes have been added to the following titles:

Daedalic Entertainment games – cutscene audio
Megadimension Neptunia VII
Overwatch should no longer lose focus after death

A couple of notes to be aware of:

FSR is currently disabled as “it needs a massive rebase.”
It is recommended to remove the NVAPI hack for Lutris Battle.NET installations as it can cause the launcher to crash otherwise.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Wine 8.7 Fixes Final Fantasy XI, Addresses Memory Leak with Genshin Impact Launcher

Sat, 29 Apr 2023 11:17:32 +0000

Wine 8.7 brings “more spool file improvements,” DXBC shader parsing “delegated to VKD3D,” and fixes 17 bugs. Bug fixes are included for Street Fighter 4’s benchmark tool, ReVolt 1207, Shapes on a Plane, Unravel, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice GOTY, Dark Souls III, and Final Fantasy XI Online.

Also, interestingly enough, it appears that the Genshin Impact launcher got a memory leak fixed during HTTPs download.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Capcom

Steam Deck Updates for the Week of April 24th (Plus Massive Beta Desktop Client Update)

Sat, 29 Apr 2023 10:47:33 +0000

This week saw two hotfixes for the stable branch, an update to the beta branch, and an update for preview users.

Stable: controller layouts are no longer forcefully updated when a game using game-bundled Steam Input API configurations updates their official configuration. A hotfix was released shortly thereafter “to fix a regression that caused some Steamworks enabled multiplayer game sessions to fail to connect.”

Beta: soundtrack playback controls have been added to both the library and the QAM. Steam Desktop Mode gets several fixes, a “Compatibility” tab gets added to change what version of Proton to use, and the in-game overlay/screenshot manager/player dialog gets some QoL improvements. The update was re-released with a few more bug fixes when signing in or downloading a game with a bandwidth limit set.

Preview: SteamOS 3.4.7 updates the graphics driver to improve performance with Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, although apparently the game still runs like trash.

And in case you missed it: desktop users got a sweet new beta update with improvements to the overlay, a new toolbar, game overview, a new notes app, the ability to pin windows from the overlay, a more useful notification system, an improved screenshot manager, and hardware acceleration for Linux users. Mac users will get hardware acceleration in a future update.

This update seems to have finally fixed that pesky Shift key issue, where the Steam client thinks you still have the Shift key held down when switching tabs, causing multiple games to get selected.

Cover image credit: Valve

Trinity Fusion - A Metroidvania Roguelike

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 19:01:55 +0000

Three characters are on a mission to save the dying multiverse. They each have a parallel “self” that guides them on their journey. The worlds are procedurally generated, set in a sci-fi setting. Each character has their own world to explore.

Trinity Fusion is a 2.5D, Metroidvania-styled action roguelike. There are enemies to be destroyed, upgrades to be had, and new biomes to explore.

Note: Trinity Fusion is currently in early access.

So far during my playthrough, it hasn’t been that bad. The game is developed and published by Angry Mob Games, who also worked on the platform fighter Brawlout. Enemies might range from a flying octopus to more mecha-like creatures, with lasers that shoot from their eyes. And yup, bosses are here too.

Each character comes with their own set of weapons. One carries a sword. Another carries a rifle. But as enemies are defeated, or when a certain “perk” is collected, the characters can change their weapons at will. Instead of throwing ice-based projectiles, for example, the new weapon will allow fire-based attacks. You’ll have to pick and choose which ones you’ll come across your journey; some have good stats, others, not so great.

There are also some other areas in the game where the character’s stats can be boosted. One example might be where the character’s speed is increased after defeating a certain amount of enemies. Up to five of these boosts can be equipped at a time.

Combat is fairly basic. You’re kind of just button-mashing the X button to keep the character swinging their sword. The Y button is for magic attacks, or a stronger variation of their normal attack. I’d like to see some more complex combat mechanics as the game progresses further in development, like being able to use a combination of weak and strong attacks in the same combo by pressing different buttons.

Because there’s roguelike elements to this game, you have to start back from square one when your character dies. At first you only have one character to choose from, but depending on how far you got, you might have unlocked the next character. If you collected enough in-game currency, you can unlock permanent upgrades, thus making subsequent trips to the multiverse a bit easier.

Works Great on Deck

The developers are giving priority to Steam Deck compatibility:

We’re aiming to make sure that even in Early Access, Trinity Fusion will be a first-class experience on the Steam Deck. We’ve been constantly testing the game on the handheld to make sure the game stays at a rock-solid framerate while still looking so good. We think we’ve nailed it.

When playing on Deck, there’s a custom graphics preset made precisely for it, “that ensures the game stays locked at 60 FPS while not putting too much of a drain on your batteries.”

Nice. I personally prefer the Golden 40, though, so I have the resolution set to 864 x 486, Medium graphics settings, TDP limit set to 6 W, and GPU clock speed set to 600 MHz, with the FSR filter enabled.

More Good Stuff to Come

Apparently the game has been four years in development, but the developers have already outlined their plans for the future:

better “mod” support - the in-game boosts that the game provides for each character
a more challenging difficulty option
more detailed lore and progression screen
new tutorial

And less than a week ago an update addressed some of this already, and added some bug fixes/tweaks.

Is it worth the $25? Eh, I guess. Might be worth waiting a few months and see where the game is at that point. The story is in here already, but the combat is a bit meh. Good Steam Deck compatibility though.

TL;DR

The good:

works great on Deck
tons of different mods and perks to use
permanent upgrades can be unlocked after being defeated

The not-so-good:

combat is a bit barebones

Trinity Fusion is available on Steam.

Review key provided by Terminals.

EmuDeck 2.1.0 Provides New Interface, Adds Support for More Emulators

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 20:54:48 +0000

Nice new update out for EmuDeck, the ultimate emulation solution for the Steam Deck. Today is the release of 2.1.0, and with it comes the following:

homebrew games can be installed or removed one game at a time (note that currently they’re only playable with EmulationStation)
new home screen
retro achievements for PS1 and PS2
support for new emulators: MelonDS standalone, Mupen, mGBA, Cemu as an AppImage, PicoB and tic80 RetroArch cores
ROMs and BIOS can now be imported via a USB flash drive
EmulationStation 2.0 with a new EpicNoir theme
EmuDeck no longer needs to be re-installed when an emulator has a new config update
EmuDeck installation can be transferred to MicroSD card, external drive, etc.
cloud services such as Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, etc. can now be added as Steam shortcuts
two new themes for Steam ROM manager; one for regular users, the other for more advanced users
automatic Steam Input profile integration
several bug fixes

If you look at their homebrew store it looks like they have a lot more games than they previously have before!

It’s an overall excellent update. I especially appreciate the fact that emulator configs can now be updated with the press of one button; no need to re-install EmuDeck again! Same with the emulators themselves: updates can be downloaded on the fly now with the click of a single button.

If you have EmuDeck installed, just run it and it will automatically download the new update.

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Minecraft Legends, Improves Elden Ring Compatibility

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 20:19:30 +0000

New Proton Experimental update has come out that fixes a few regressions with Proton 8, adds compatibility to a few more titles, fixes a memory leak with the Ubisoft Connect overlay, improves Elden Ring compatibility, and a few other fixes. Plus, you are no longer a pirate with Babo: Invasion. Apparently the game thought you didn’t buy it previously.

The following titles are now playable:

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Minecraft Legends
Company of Heroes: Battle of Crete
STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN

The following regressions from Proton 8 have been fixed:

Baldur’s Gate 3 no longer launches to a black screen in Vulkan mode.
Divinity Original Sin: Enhanced Edition and Divinity Original Sin II: Definitive Edition no longer crash on resolution change.
Path of Exile no longer crashes.
GTA V no longer freezes after each key press.

Improvements:

Improved Elden Ring compatibility compared to Proton 8.0-1. It can still be a bit finicky.
Added a temporary workaround for EA Launcher crashing. Steam Deck’s on-screen keyboard may not pop up automatically while using it.

The following issues have been fixed:

Fixed Proton Experimental regression causing Payday 2 to crash on start.
Fixed memory leak in Trackmania and Ubisoft Connect overlay.
Fixed Madballs in Babo: Invasion claiming the game wasn’t purchased.
Fixed PlanetSide 2 launcher.
Fixed Tales of Berseria screen tearing with Vsync enabled.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

You Should Still Consider Making Your Game Available on Linux

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 18:22:06 +0000

I feel like I’m entering hot water when I bring up a subject like this.

And I’m not going to re-hash what everyone else has said regarding Proton VS. native, except for maybe the fact that, if it weren’t for Proton and the aggressive updates that have been pushing out for it, the Steam Deck would likely have been dead on arrival, much like the Steam Machines were.

Proton has been absolutely great to have, I’m not going to lie to you. Ever since it came out in 2018 I have had absolutely no reason to touch Windows ever again. And as most game developers are more familiar with Windows development, Proton takes the guessing game out. No longer do they have to learn what it takes to make their game work natively on Linux. “No porting required,” as Valve infamously said when they first advertised the Steam Deck.

Now here, of course, is the but. There were some things that Valve contractor Tim Besset had mentioned in my interview with him that got me thinking.

What I love about Proton is the options that it gives developers for bringing their game to the Steam Deck. Trying to ship a Linux port when you lack the resources, time and know-how is not a good place to be for a developer. So we remove that pain. Now we see developers who want to ship native for the right reasons - they squeeze an extra few percent of performance and battery life, their codebase gets battle-tested against multiple compilers and runtime environments, etc.

When I asked if he could expound a little further, he mentioned that “there is a bit of overhead with Proton.” I imagine he was referring to the CPU department. This overhead, though it may be getting less over time with the advancements made to Proton, will cause your Deck’s battery to deplete slightly faster. The overhead can also cause performance issues.

When the game is native to Linux/SteamOS, this overhead doesn’t exist. As Tim brought out, this brings “an extra few percent of performance and battery life.” It may only be a few percent…but I’ll take that for what it’s worth.

Debugging your game will also be easier:

A native build will be slightly easier to debug and fine tune performance for. We support remote debugging with Proton and Visual Studio, but if you have a native binary it’s still a little easier to work that way.

Though I’m not a game developer, I think it may also be of help when your game is using some sort of anti-cheat service. A game that uses Easy Anti-Cheat, for instance, may be a little less of a headache to properly support if the game is native, rather than supporting EAC through Proton. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about this, though.

And if your game is developed with Godot, Unreal, or Unity, chances are you only need to do a one-click export, depending on your shaders or if its using middleware:

For the most part it seems [these engines] are truly ‘one-click export’ to produce a solid native build that works with Steam for Linux. Provided…that you haven’t pulled in middlewares that do not support Linux as a target. With UE you may have a few surprises if you’ve never tested your setup with Vulkan and may need to tweak a few of your shaders but that’s about it.

So, a native game brings the following benefits:

no overhead; better performance and longer lasting battery
easier debugging
easier to set up anti-cheat (though again, I could be wrong on that; if you’re a dev I’d love to hear your thoughts on this)

Now hear me out. I am by no means forcing game devs to use Linux if they don’t want to. Proton takes much of the needed guesswork out. Chances are a game will “just work” out-of-the-box with Proton. So, if a dev doesn’t want to take the time to learn the nuances of Linux – especially since we are such a niche audience – fine.

What are your thoughts? Are you fine with Proton, or do you think supporting Linux natively for that “extra few percent of performance and battery life” is worth it?

Street Fighter 6 Demo Drops on Steam, Works OK on Steam Deck

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 16:46:16 +0000

A few days ago Street Fighter 6 was available as a demo on PlayStation consoles. Well, great news for Deckers and PC gamers alike: the same demo is now available on Steam. Gameplay footage is available on YouTube.

But beware, it’s gonna leave a hole in your SSD’s “wallet”. It takes up 16.7 GB of space.

I briefly played the game on Deck. Though it’s not a requirement, I’d recommend using GE-Proton to ensure better video compatibility. The game runs fine with vanilla Proton 8, but you’ll get that missing media codec image for the intro video.

Second, don’t use anything higher than Normal graphics settings. Even with the preset set to Normal, there are going to be frame dips here and there in the Story Mode, and certain maps. I recommend setting the preset to Low, and then adjusting the max framerate to 60 from the in-game Options menu; by default on Low the max FPS is set to 30. As this is obviously a fighting game, I don’t recommend using a framerate any lower than 60 FPS.

Third, I wouldn’t even bother adjusting the TDP or GPU clock speed. The game is pretty demanding, and will consume around 18 W on average. Unfortunately based on my testing it is not possible to make use of FSR and lowering the game resolution; you’re locked to 1280 x 720 and can’t adjust this. There isn’t even a fullscreen option; just Windowed or Borderless Windowed options. If the game was using Unreal Engine like its predecessor, there might be a “hack” for forcing a lower resolution, but since SF6 is using Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine, I’m not aware of any workarounds for the time being.

That being said, I would give SF6 a “Playable” Steam Deck rating. You can definitely play it, but keep the graphics settings to Low or Lowest. I’m hoping by the time the full game launches June 2 there will be a “fullscreen” option and resolution support that’s lower than 1280 x 720.

Get the demo on Steam.

How to Set Up Xbox Game Pass on Steam Deck

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 19:11:55 +0000

Please note this is for the cloud version of Xbox Game Pass. To my knowledge, it is not possible to run the native Xbox Game Pass app on Deck. Also, you will need an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in order to use this.

1. Get a Chromium-Based Web Browser

Go to Desktop Mode. I’m assuming you have some sort of Chromium-based browser installed, but if not, install one via the Discover App. While of course Microsoft is going to suggest Microsoft Edge, we don’t need to use that. Any browser that uses Google’s Blink engine will work:

Brave
Chrome/Chromium
Vivaldi
Opera
among many, many other browsers

In this guide, I will be using Brave.

2. Give the Browser Gamepad Permissions

Open up a terminal and run this:

flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.brave.Browser

Change com.brave.Browser to whatever web browser you’re planning on using. So, if you wanted to add the udev permissions to Chromium, you would use org.chromium.Chromium.

3. Go to Xbox Game Pass in Your Browser and Install it as an App

Open the web browser up and direct it to the Xbox Cloud Gaming webpage. Sign in to your Microsoft account if you haven’t already. Inside the URL box, there should be an “Install” icon to the far right. Click on it, and select “Install”.

Xbox Game Pass will open in a new window. Close it for now.

4. Add Xbox Cloud Gaming as a Non-Steam App

Now that Xbox Cloud Gaming is installed as an app, it should be listed under “Lost & Found” within the Application Launcher. If not, scroll all the way down under the “All Applications” category. Right-click the app and select “Add to Steam”.

Xbox Cloud Gaming should now be in your Steam library.

5. Run the App in Fullscreen

By default, when the app is launched, it opens up in a window. We want this to be in fullscreen, so add this to the game properties:

--start-fullscreen

Right-click the non-Steam app -> Properties -> And append this to end of the Launch Options box. So it might look something like this:

"run" "--command=brave" "com.brave.Browser" "--profile-directory=Default" "--app-id=some gibberish" --start-fullscreen

6. Get Gaming

Should be good to go! You can go back to Game Mode and launch Xbox Cloud Gaming directly from Steam. It might be worth changing the gamepad template to “Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad”.

I haven’t found a way to use the in-game Guide button with the gamepad, but you can still make use of it by tapping the top-left corner of the screen and then tapping the Xbox icon.

While you’re at it, you may want to bring the TDP and GPU clock speeds all the way down. We’re only streaming, after all.

7. (Optional) Get Artwork

While Microsoft might have you download their artwork and have Steam use it, there’s something a bit easier: SteamGridDB. You can use SteamGridDB to get artwork all through Game Mode, without having to use a keyboard and mouse.

So your library might go from this:

To this:

A few weeks down the line I may have an overview of how well Xbox Cloud Gaming on Deck and desktop, so stay tuned.

Steam Deck to Get Improved Color Management with SteamOS 3.5

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 16:15:48 +0000

SteamOS 3.5 is becoming more and more of an exciting update to look forward to. Not only will we be getting a setting to disable SMT, but we’ll also be seeing an update to the kernel, and potentially an upgrade to the Mesa drivers, which will lead to smaller shader cache by up to 60%.

And now, there’s yet another feature coming. Kernel mode-setting color pipeline enhancements will be available. This is brought to you by Melissa Wen, Joshua Ashton, and Harry Wentland. You can read the patch series for more details, but basically:

two patches “fix quantization issues on sharper LUT programming”
a third “adds a config option to restrict AMD color feature usage”
13 of the patches “implement AMD driver-private color properties”
the final 24 “rework the AMD display manager and color management to support the properties exposed”

Image credit: Joshua Ashton

We identified during our work that AMD provides many other valuable capabilities that we don’t find in other vendors, so we started to work on AMD driver-private color properties that better describe its color pipeline, enabling us to expose full AMD color capabilities on Deck HW.

So, essentially, you’re going to have better colors on your Deck’s screen. I am aware that some of you have complained about the color quality, and I would imagine this update will alleviate some of your concerns.

We are planning on shipping our color management support with gamut mapping, HDR, SDR on HDR, HDR on SDR, and much more in Steam OS 3.5.

Nice.

Kernel 6.3 Brings Native Steam Deck Controller Support, Better Power Efficiency with Ryzen Laptops

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 02:03:23 +0000

Kernel 6.3 has launched as stable today. An eighth release candidate was not needed this time around; Linus noted that it was “a calm release”. We’ve got plenty of great stuff with this release, including:

“slightly better” Zen 4 performance with the Ryzen 7000 series via AMD’s automatic IBRS feature
better battery efficiency with Ryzen laptops
further Intel Meteor Lake support; display support now works
Ext4 direct I/O and Btrfs performance/optimization improvements
native Steam Deck controller interface support
support for the Logitech G923 racing wheel
support for the 8BitDo Pro 2 wired controller
further Rust implementation; the first Rust drivers will be “debuting in the near future”
new ARM/RISC-V power management drivers
and many, many more features/improvements/fixes

See the feature overview from Phoronix for a more complete overview.

Weekly News Recap (Arch Leads the Way, Jedi Survivor, Minecraft Legends)

Sun, 23 Apr 2023 17:23:47 +0000

Steam Deck

Japan gets retail units
Project M player? Here’s a guide for getting Project M EX Remix running

Hardware

System76 upgrades several workstations with new CPUs/GPUs
more ASUS ROG Ally details leak

Software Updates

Proton Experimental 4.20.2023 saves disk space, fixes 14 bugs, adds compatibilty to nine new titles
Proton 8.0.1 upgrades Wine to 8.0, fixes 17 bugs, adds compatibility to many more titles
Wine 8.0.1 fixes three dozen bugs, improves Mac OS Ventura support
Fedora 38 includes GNOME 44 and improvements to sysadmin
Ubuntu 23.04 includes a new installer, GNOME 44, a stable Steam snap, and plenty of other features/fixes
Proton hotfix fixes Minecraft Legends
Lutris 0.5.13 beta 2 adds support for Proton, drag n’ drop functionality, ModDB links, itch.io integration, Battle.NET integration, performance improvements, and plenty of other features/fixes

Other

Forza Horizon 5 running “well” on AMD
curious if you can get Zelda: ToTK running through an emulator? Well, the devs themselves don’t know either
I reviewed a survival game called Smalland: Survive the Wilds
Morty, just use Arch already!
Flathub website gets a visual overhaul
performance improvements coming to Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
you just might not be able to run Roblox with Wine anymore
seems like Solus is now being resurrected

Cover image credit: Respawn Entertainment/EA

Forza Horizon 5 Running "Well" On AMD

Sun, 23 Apr 2023 16:33:13 +0000

Seems like there are some mixed reports about Forza Horizon 5 compatibility on ProtonDB. But Reddit user d3vilguard seems to have found a solution on Linux desktop, with the 6600 XT.

I’ve been battling with this game for a year now trying to get it to run smooth…after a moderate -80mV undervolt, a overclock of +100 on the core and +200 on the memory I can say that the stutters are gone. Gone for good! Game still crashes from time to time, but hear me out.. crashing frequency is the same as Windows.

They’re using openSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE Wayland, with the native Steam package, stock kernel, and stock Mesa drivers. Here’s what they did to get the game running decently:

hugepages enabled
“Performance” and “Compute” power modes set for the CPU and GPU respectively
using Proton Experimental - bleeding edge
GameMode enabled
Steam overlay disabled
GPU undervolted and overclocked; set with CoreCtrl
fTMP and HPET disabled in BIOS
resizable BAR/SAM enabled

In-game settings also had to be altered:

SSAO quality set to OFF - this can apparently cause artifacts otherwise
TAA set to OFF - causes crashing otherwise

See the game in action with their video. The description notes that NVIDIA users should be “OK” with Proton 8 and also provides a guide on how to enable resizable bar with AMD.

Even after all this work, please be advised that kernel 6.2 or higher “can cause crashes on AMD GPUs.”

Meantime, if you’re on Deck, CryoByte33 has an excellent video guide for getting Forza Horizon 5 to work nicely.

Cover image credit: d3vilguard

Japan Getting Steam Decks at Retail Stores, Plus Steam Deck Client Beta Update

Sat, 22 Apr 2023 17:26:25 +0000

It’s hard to predict the frequency of Steam Deck updates. Some weeks, they occur every day. Other weeks, there isn’t one at all.

At any rate, one Steam Deck client update landed this week for beta and preview users that contains several fixes.

General

Fixed issue where selecting a group chat showed an endless loading throbber until another chat was selected
Fixed a regression in the beta client causing notification toasts to not show while playing a game.
Fixed ‘Delete Proton Files’ not cleaning files that contain : in the path

Desktop Mode

Fixed a case where the per-app Steam Play compatibility tool override dropdown would not appear

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

In other news, in case you weren’t aware, the Deck is hitting brick and mortor stores in Japan. Says the post from Komodo:

KOMODO, an international game company and official distribution partner of Valve’s Steam Deck in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, is extending the retail availability of three Steam Deck models and Docking Stations into Japan beginning April 29th at EDION Namba Main Store (Namba, Chuo-ku, Osaka).

The same company will also be holding a “Steam Deck trail event” on the first floor of the EDION Namba Main Store to commemorate “the start of Steam Deck sales at physical stores in Japan.” This will take place April 29th to May 7th.

Switch Emulator Devs: "We Don't Know" Concerning Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 15:50:10 +0000

The Ryujinx team recently updated their FAQ to now include game-specific sections and troubleshooting methods. It’s a pretty comprehensive FAQ, covering pretty much every question you might have when it comes to emulating Nintendo Switch games. And now, if you’re wondering about Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, they’ve got you covered:

Any kind of questions you have about this title, the answer to all of them is: we don’t know.

So whether the game will have DRM, isn’t currently known. Some of us have speculated that, given the stance Denuvo has recently been taking with the “dangers” of emulation, and shortly thereafter Microsoft removing emulator support in retail mode on Xbox Series consoles, this series of events might indicate ToTK will have Denuvo DRM attached. The big N going after YouTubers like The Phawx, removing any kind of video having to do with Nintendo emulation, or even YouTubers promoting Breath of the Wild mods, is an even bigger indicator. They’re definitely not messing around (honestly, I’m surprised they haven’t taken any of my emulation videos down).

Even if the game will be able to be emulated on Steam Deck or any other device on day one, the Ryujinx team reminds you to temper your expectations when it comes to performance:

Please do not expect this game to run exactly like Breath of the Wild does on Cemu. Cemu has had years of development and modding efforts put into making Breath of the Wild the experience it currently is on it. Once Tears of the Kingdom comes out, it may or may not take a similarly long time for it to run on Ryujinx at 4k144fps with no issues.

They recommend using “the best CPU your budget allows” to get the game running decently.

What are your thoughts? If you’re planning on picking up the game, are you going to try to get it running on your Deck or other device?

Cover image credit: Nintendo

Plausible Analytics - An Open-Source, Privacy-Respecting Alternative to Google Analytics

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 13:36:21 +0000

When I launched LGC, I had a decision to make: was I going to use Google Analytics, or an alternative?

I had heard good things about Plausible Analytics when I was reading about it on the elementary OS blog. Here’s what Google Analytics does:

Google happily tracks you across all the websites you visit if those sites use Google Analytics, or if you use Google search. Google then infers and remembers all sorts of information about you; for example: your age range, an inferred gender, if you’ve changed jobs or moved recently, and whether you like to spend time outdoors. Google then uses all of this data to target ads to you, in the hopes that more precise ads will get you to bite, thus earning them their commission.

Also, if you’ve used Google Analytics before, I’m sure you’re aware of how unnecessarily complicated the user interface is. Google keeps track of a lot more things than just what articles you’re clicking on or what web browser you’re using, and all of this data – a lot of which just isn’t necessary – is tucked away behind several menus.

Plausible Analytics provides a solution to both problems. It uses a much-more simplified dashboard, giving you only the data that you want, and gives it all at a glance. No menus to hop through, no need to create a “custom report”. You can quickly adjust the filters, such as the length of time, by web browser, by device, by location, etc.

Plausible Analytics gets their funding by charging their customers directly – not through advertising or by selling information they get from their consumers. It’s lightweight and doesn’t use cookies either. It is therefore more privacy-respecting than Google Analytics, and it’s the reason why I don’t need to add a “privacy policy” page or banner on my site. Another great thing is, Plausible is open-source, licensed under AGPLv3, and if you’d rather not pay for a yearly subscription, documentation is provided for self-hosting.

In the past year I’ve found it was a great solution to use Plausible. I get all the data from just one page, and the website remains very responsive and fast. So, I will continue to use it this year. There’s a lot more benefits than these though; you can read more about it on Plausible’s website.

If you’re a website owner, I suggest you give Plausible a try. They have a free 30-day trial that you can sign up for.

Proton Experimental Saves Disk Space, Adds Compatibility to Nine New Titles

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 21:41:26 +0000

Shortly after the release of Proton 8.0-1 comes an update Proton Experimental – and this one looks like pretty big. Not only are several titles – including Propnight, the Bloodrayne Terminal Cut series, and Olympia Rising – now playable, but many fixes have made it in. Video playback has been fixed in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Nioh: Complete Edition, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Fixes have also made it in for DC Universe Online, Pentiment, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Witcher 3, Life is Strange Remastered, and a few others.

Additionally, DXVK and VKD3D-Proton have been updated “to include latest development work”, and evidently we have some disk space savings, since the file distribution method has been updated.

Full patch notes are as follows.

Now playable:

Propnight
Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Bloodrayne Terminal Cut 1/2
Breakout 13
Murasaki Tsurugi
PooShooter: Toilet Invaders
Purgo Box
Olympia Rising
Summoners War: Chronicles

Fixes:

Fixed various Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty issues around video playback.
Fixed game launcher DC Universe Online.
Fixed audio controls and spatialization in VRChat with AVPro.
Fixed the key presses registering weirdly in Wild Hearts.
Fixed video playback in Nioh: Complete Edition.
Fixed Pentiment not being playable on desktop.
Fixed cutscene desync in Immortals Fenyx Rising.
Fixed Witcher 3 launcher rendering issues.
Fixed Call of Duty: Black Ops III graphical glitches when loading Hex Tower.
Fixed video playback speed issues in METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN.
Fixed Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut hanging on exit.
Fixed connection error at the end of Chapter 2 in Life is Strange Remastered.
Fixed EOS error message with Returnal and other EOS games.
Fixed intermittent hangs with Prototype.

Updates:

Updated file distribution method to save disk space.
Updated dxvk to include the latest development work.
Updated vkd3d-proton to include the latest development work.

Patch notes can also be read on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Climax Studios/PlayStation PC LLC

Smalland: Survive the Wilds Review

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 19:26:10 +0000

Smalland: Survive the Wilds is a survival game where you’re in control of a character that’s smaller than a grasshopper. It’s a survival game where your goal is to craft weapons, defend yourself against hostile insects, tame others, and explore the world around you. It’s definitely got some Grounded vibes to it, if you ever played that game. Except I’d argue Smalland is a little more fantasy-like in nature, and mechanics-wise, it’s a bit more simplistic. The game is developed and published by Merge Games – the same company behind Dead Cells and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

NOTE: this game is currently in early access. Things are subject to change as the game gets updates.

Instead of hunger and thirst being seperate gauges, they’re combined into one. There’s also a stamina bar that, when drained, will prevent your character from sprinting, jumping, or swinging a sword around. Hunger can be satisfied by cutting off mushrooms and consuming the portions that are scattered, or by cooking animal parts at a campfire. Health generally doesn’t recover by itself, unless the character is well-fed; bandages can be crafted at workstations, along with bows, arrows, wooden swords, and other weapons for defending yourself against hostile creatures. Fun fact: your character can’t swim.

I played the game for about an hour-and-a-half and, well, I think I’ve sort of lost my zeal for survival games. At one point I really enjoyed them, but nowadays the constant need to look for supplies, crafting new weapons, cooking food at a campfire, and repeating that whole process when your character dies has become a chore for me. That being said, thankfully a patch went out a few days ago that adds an option to keep items after death.

Overall, the game isn’t that bad. The world the characters are in is pretty interesting, and unlike some other survival games, there’s actually a story. A story where there are other characters you’ll need to interact with, and new objectives to explore on the map. Just do yourself a favor and make sure you are prepared; you won’t get any warning when there’s an ant that seeks to kill you, and you have little to nothing to do to defend yourself, unless you actually have a sword or bow on hand.

Though by default the game is set in third-person, there’s also a first-person mode if you click the right thumbstick. You can seamlessly switch between modes this way. Only annoying part is when you interact with something in first-person, the camera automatically goes back to third-person when you’re done.

On Deck? A Battery Guzzler

You can play the game on Deck, to a degree. But just know it’s very demanding on the battery at 25 W. Set the framecap to 30 FPS, and don’t even bother making use of the TDP or GPU clock limits. Set the in-game graphics settings to low, enable the game’s FSR feature, and use a lower resolution than the Deck’s native resolution. I personally have FSR set to “Balanced” with Proton 8.0-1, windowed mode set to “Off”, resolution set to 1152 x 720.

You might be able to push your luck and go with Medium settings, but your framerate can wildly vary, depending on what’s going on on-screen.

If You Like Survival, It’s Not a Bad Choice

For an early access title, I’d say Smalland has got a lot of things right. The inspiration from Grounded is obviously here, but it does have a few of its own twists. I also like the fact that items can still be retained upon death, and there isn’t anywhere near as much grinding involved as some other survival games to get the necessary weapons/armor/etc.

Just be aware having to constantly switch back to first-person camera after an interaction can be annoying, to be prepared before wandering off too far, and it’s not very well optimized to run on Deck. I may have another look at this game once it leaves early access, to see if performance will be any better, and the story a little more fleshed out.

TL;DR

The good:

story mode
simplified survival mechanics; less resources to grind, less survival gauges to keep track of

The not-so-good:

runs poorly on Deck
first-person mode needs to be re-activated every time the character interacts with something in the world
there isn’t really a warning if there are hostile creatures ahead of you

Smalland: Survive the Wilds is available on Steam for $25.

Review key provided courtesy of Hooligan PR

Wine 8.0.1 Provides Better Mac Support, Fixes 36 Bugs

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 16:45:43 +0000

The stable Wine 8.0 release got a new update. Note that this is not to be confused with the development branch, which just released 8.6. Mac OS Ventura 13.3 gets fixes, Tamil and Turkish translations have been updated, and a total of 36 bugs have been fixed, including fixes for “What’s the Secret?” and Saints Row: The Third.

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

More ASUS ROG Ally Details Emerge, Could Potentially Be Under $700

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:36:12 +0000

A shipping manifest of the ROG Ally seems to have been leaked while it was shipping between headquarters. From the looks of it, the Ally will be using the 7840U with Radeon 780M graphics, (Zen 4, RDNA 3) with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a base clock speed of 3.3 GHz, max of 5 GHz. The 780M iGPU is said to have performance similar to the GTX 1650. ASUS did mention the APU is custom though; it’s probably a lower-powered version to keep the battery life sane. According to a leaked image, it appears the custom Phoenix APU is codenamed “Z1 Extreme”.

Similar to the Deck, the leaked image mentions the Ally will have 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM. It will also support USH-II MicroSD cards, and come with a M.2 2230 512 GB PCIe Gen 4 drive. ASUS tweeted a few days ago that the Ally “is set to release worldwide (and it may be sooner than you expect).” VideoCardz suggests that the release could be later this quarter.

Image credit: Geekbench

Rumors suggest the price of the handheld will be somewhere between $650-700, though don’t ask me from where I got those details – I’m just reading the article from Games Revealed.

The GPD Win Mini might have a few tricks up its own sleeves though, including an open standard for connecting eGPUs and a similar price point.

System76 Reveals Upgraded Laptops and a New Comparison Chart

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 14:33:54 +0000

The Gazelle laptop from System76 got a 13th-gen Intel CPU upgrade (i9, 14 cores, 20 threads, max speed of 5.4 GHz) last month. Now, the company is also giving the Adder Workstation (WS) and Serval WS a refresh as well.

The Adder WS can now be paired with a 40-series GPU from NVIDIA (up to the 4070). It also comes with a 13th-gen Intel processor (i9-13900HX with 24 cores and 32 threads) and DDR5 RAM. According to System76, the 4070 will have a “54% higher clock speed” than the previous gen Adder WS. Prices start at $1600.

Similar to the Adder WS, the Serval WS comes with the i9-13900HX and the RTX 4070. But now you can upgrade the 17" display to 4K. Alternatively you can opt for a 1080p panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate. Prices start at $1800 and will start shipping mid-May.

But here’s the kicker: System76 has announced an upgrade to the Bonobo WS, which is the company’s “most powerful laptop.” It will sport the i9-13900HX, DDR5 RAM, and can be equipped with the RTX 4090. A nice upgrade to this new model is that it’s also “one pound lighter and 43% thinner than the previous Bonobo WS.” It has a 17", 4K panel. Prices start at $3300.

Finally, System76 has updated their laptop page so you can compare each laptop at a glance. You can use their chart to figure out which laptop is best for you, including how many USB ports you want, the resolution/refresh rate, and the amount of maximum storage it can be equipped with.

See System76’s website for more details.

Linux Distros: What Are We Gaming on in 2023?

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:53:00 +0000

Boiling Steam recently analyzed the data of submitted reports from ProtonDB and nicely put them together into a bar graph. From their graph we can get a glimpse of who’s using what distro, as well as a timeframe of distros that are either losing traction or gaining momentum.

I mean, you don’t necessarily have to read their article; the graph pretty much sums it all up for us. The data goes from 2019 to 2023. Here’s a few of my own comments:

(vanilla) Arch continues to grow in popularity, and it’s not surprising, given the degree of customization it offers. It’s currently the most popular distro with over 20% of ProtonDB reporters using it
nearly half of submitted reports came from Ubuntu users back in 2019; they’ve been steadily shrinking ever since
Manjaro seems to be the “beginner’s version” of Arch – or, at least was. It was popular around 2020/2021, but gradually lost momentum starting in 2022
Pop!_OS went from barely used in 2019 to reaching its peak in mid-2021, but gradually losing users since
Mint had a strong foothold in 2019, but mostly lost traction since. Ties with Pop!_OS at the end
Fedora steadily gained more popularity as the years went by, and for good reason
EndeavourOS (Arch derivative) wasn’t used pretty much at all, then became more popular in 2022-2023
Debian is less popular than most of the other distros, but stayed solid well throughout 2019-2023

Some other thoughts:

interestingly enough I don’t see SteamOS anywhere. Perhaps that’s categorized under “Arch”. You’d figure that be on there, since it’s one of the most commonly used distros according to the Steam survey
I also don’t see Nobara Project anywhere, though that could also be classified under “Fedora”, or perhaps it’s one of those gray areas on the graph that aren’t labeled

It’s not surprising at all to see Ubuntu fall. The distro that once upon a time most everybody recommended as the beginner’s journey to Linux is now controlled by a bunch of bloodthirsy executives who are dropping Flatpak support, aggressively pushing Snaps forward, offering their so-called “Ubuntu Pro” membership to get updates faster, and…yeah I don’t really want to carry on with this rant. You get the idea.

Manjaro doesn’t come without its own controversies as well, ranging from SSL certificates not being renewed, and apparently not caring “about working with any other distributions.” So, to see the adoption of this distro shrink over time is understandable. It seems that if people aren’t going to use vanilla Arch, they’ll either resort to EndeavourOS or Garuda Linux; as we can see in the graph, both distros have been gaining more users over time.

I imagine once Pop!_OS incorporates their Rust-based desktop environment later this summer, it may pick up some more adoption – at least for a little while.

What are your thoughts on this data? What distro do you use as a daily driver, and why?

Cover image credit: Boiling Steam

Heads-Up, ROG Ally - You Got Yourself a Competitor

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:58:52 +0000

YouTuber The Phawx today went on camera to reveal the details behind the GPD Win Mini, which, according to him, “will not allow the ROG Ally to hog the spotlight for themselves.” So, instead of handheld PC manufacturers going up against the Steam Deck, they’re now fighting with the Deck competitors. Gamepad Digital has been in the PC handheld market for a long time, being the creators of the Win 4 and the Win Max 2.

Here’s some of the details The Phawx has revealed regarding the GPD Win Mini:

“a bit larger than the GPD Win 2” and upgrades the screen to 7", 1080p, with a refresh rate of 120 Hz
the screen may support black frame insertion (BFI), although this hasn’t been confirmed
there will be two different configurations: one with a 7440U, the other with a 7840U. The latter “has the absolute best chip possible” and would be the smallest x86-based handheld out there
it will have an OCuLink current connector. Unlike the ROG Ally, which is using a proprietary connection for connecting external devices, the Win Mini will have an open standard OCuLink connector for connecting external GPUs. It will also support Thunderbolt 3 via USB 4
built-in gyro, clickable thumbsticks, rumble motors, backlit keyboard

He tells the viewer to temper their expectations when it comes to running games at 120 FPS:

Even the most high-end version will have difficulty running games trying to meet the demand of the screen itself…instead, know that it wlll be very easy to use frame capping to instantly switch between 40 and 60fps without having to worry about forcing the screen to a different frequency.

To picture the size of the GPD Win Mini, the blue area on the back of the Deck pictured here is what the dimensions of the device are. And yet, it will have “the same or better chip than the ROG Ally” and a similar screen.

Price? The Phawx says “the Indiegogo crowdfunding price will start at around $700.” He mentions the pricing will likely get updated as we get closer to the Indiegogo campaign, which is scheduled for June. Whether “updated” means for the better or worse, I’m not sure.

No word on RAM, storage, or battery capacity. With such a small device I can’t imagine they’ll be able to pack anything larger than a 40 Wh battery.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you rather pick up a Win Mini over the ROG Ally or vice-versa? Do you think the Win Mini actually has a chance?

Cover image credit: The Phawx

Proton 8.0-1 Released, Adds Compatibility to Dozens of New Titles, Improves Sleep/Resume Functionality on Deck

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 23:46:59 +0000

Well, we were kind of hit with this massive update to Proton out of nowhere. To my knowledge there was never a release candidate or Proton Next build for 8.0-1. But it’s great news nonetheless, as we’re getting quite the feature list with today’s update.

Included in the update are 18 newly playable titles, from Forspoken to Dead Space (2023), NVAPI support “for many games,” improved multi-touch support, improved sleep/resume functionality on Steam Deck, fixes for the 2K and Final Fantasy XIV launchers, alt-tabbing fixes with GNOME 43, and so much more. Also, Proton 8.0-1 upgrades Wine to 8.0, which in of itself is a huge upgrade from Wine 7 – improved controller hotplugging support, better steering wheel support with improved force feedback, and improved Direct3D performance!

The following titles are now playable:

Improvements:

Improved CJK font support in many games including NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit, Stardom 3 and Sword and Fairy 3.
Improved sleep/resume functionality on Steam Deck for Tiny Tina’s Wonderland.
Improved multi-touch support.
Improved force feedback compatibility for BeamNG and Forza Horizon 5.
Improved multiplayer support in Company of Heroes III.
Improved fullscreen support for The Last Blade 2.
Enabled NVAPI for many games.

Bug fixes:

Fixed 2K launcher failure caused by launcher update.
Fixed Arabic fonts in FIFA 21 and 22.
Fixed native scrollbar being always visible in Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher.
Fixed A Plague Tale: Innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem showing on-screen keyboard when starting the game on the Steam Deck.
Fixed rendering issues during cutscenes in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.
Fixed Japanese keyboard input in Final Fantasy XIV Online.
Fixed Football Manager 2023 crashing when trying to return from a player profile.
Fixed experimental regression: Fall in Labyrinth started crashing on some setups.
Fixed Life is Strange Remastered crashing at the end of chapter 2.
Fixed Alt+Tab not working on Gnome 43.
Fixed regression with Mortal Combat X performance.
Fixed OpenGL launch option for Youropa.
Fixed raytracing in Crysis Remastered.
Fixed regression: Minecraft Dungeons was hanging when disconnecting from multiplayer game.
Fixed Immortals Fenyx Rising missing/out-of-order audio lines in cutscenes.
Fixed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launcher flickering on Wayland.
Fixed Story Mode not working in Dead or Alive 6.

Updates:

Updated wine to 8.0.
Updated dxvk to v2.1-4-gcaf31033.
Updated vkd3d-proton to v2.8-84-g08909d98.
Updated dxvk-nvapi to v0.6.2.
Updated wine-mono to 7.4.1.

Please be aware, however, that your GPU will need to support Vulkan 1.3.

See the patch notes on GitHub. An update should be available for Proton in your Steam library. After downloading the update, restart the Steam client to start using it.

Cover image credit: Luminous Productions/Square Enix

How to Set Up Project M EX Remix on Steam Deck

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 03:14:48 +0000

What Is Project M EX Remix?

Remember Project M back in the day, which eventually turned into Project+? The mod that turns Super Smash Bros. Brawl into a more competitive game? Well, Project M EX Remix (or PMEX Remix for short) keeps all those changes, while massively increasing the character roster, stages, music selection, and a whole lot more. Want to play as Shadow the Hedgehog? Zack Fair? Waluigi? They’re all here, thanks to the modding community.

PMEX Remix is probably the most ambitious modding project for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It takes mods from the community and puts it into one nice collection. As a result, the roster size is even larger than Smash Ultimate. I’m not kidding you – there’s over 120 characters to choose from. It’s also possible to play online thanks to Dolphin’s netplay feature. There’s even a “Codes” menu in which you can customize the game’s modifiers, such as knockback strength, whether the HUD is visible, etc.

How to Get PMEX Remix to Work on Steam Deck

When you download PMEX Remix, you’ll only get the Windows version of Dolphin. While we could technically get it to work on Deck with the use of Wine/Proton, there’s two issues:

You won’t be able to use your GameCube controller adapter.
Wine will add more CPU overhead than running Dolphin natively, which we don’t want, as it can lead to performance issues and increased battery usage.

But fret not, it’s fairly easy to get a native version of PMEX Remix running nicely on Deck/Linux desktop. Here’s how to do it.

I assume you have a legal copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl dumped from your Wii and stored somewhere on your Deck. If not, head over to the Dolphin Wiki for instructions on how to dump your disc. I do NOT condone piracy of the game!

Get the Necessary Downloads

Go to Desktop Mode. Head over to Brawl Vault to download PMEX Remix. The latest version as of the time of writing this is 0.95DX (with a hotfix that was just uploaded yesterday). You’ll be taken to a Google Drive link. Download the Dolphin build.

Extract the archive. Pay attention to the following files/folders, as we will need them:

the Launcher folder and its contents
the RSBE01 folder and its contents inside of User/Load/Textures/
the sd.raw file in User/Wii/

Next, download the latest AppImage of Project+. After it’s downloaded, right-click the AppImage in your file manager -> Properties -> Permissions -> Check the box for “Is executable”. Close the Properties window, right-click the AppImage again, and add it to Steam with “Add to Steam”. This way, we can launch PMEX Remix from Game Mode later on.

Configure Project+

Open Project+. Click “Config” and go to the “Paths” tab in the window that pops up. Under ISO Directories, click “Add…” Locate the Launcher folder from the PMEX Remix Dolphin build that you had downloaded. Click “Open”. This directory should now show up under ISO Directories. Check the box for “Search Subfolders” so that Dolphin can pick up both the netplay launcher and the offline launcher.

Next, click the three-dotted button next to “Default ISO” and locate your copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In my case I have it stored in ~/Emulation/roms/wii/. (Note: “~” is short for /home/deck/.)

Click the three-dotted button next to “SD Card Path” and locate the sd.raw file from the PMEX Remix Dolphin build that you had downloaded.

Now we can configure the graphics. Click “Graphics” from the arrow in the main window in Dolphin. Here you can set the aspect ratio to your liking; by default it’s set to 69:40. I’ll go with 16:10. If you’re playing the game while docked, adjust the aspect ratio to what your monitor’s is. Check the box for “Use Fullscreen”.

You may want to uncheck “Show FPS” and “Show OSD Clock” if you’re using Steam’s performance overlay, so there’s less clutter on the screen.

Next, go to the first “Enhancements” tab. Adjust the internal resolution. You shouldn’t need to set the resolution any higher than 720p, unless you’re planning on docking your Deck to an external monitor.

Go to the “Advanced” tab. Check the box for “Load Custom Textures” but do NOT check “Prefetch Custom Textures”; the emulator will crash as soon as the game is loaded.

Now we can set our controls. Click the arrow on the right-side of the main window in Dolphin, and click “Controllers”. If you’re docking your Deck and you have your GameCube controller adapter connected, you can leave Port 1 to the default “GameCube Adapter for Wii U”. Note that, even though you can technically overclock the adapter on Steam Deck, please be aware that you do so at your own risk. I haven’t been able to figure it out myself, but you can follow the instructions here if you want to give it a shot.

Otherwise, if you’re planning on using the Deck’s integrated controls, click the dropdown menu for Port 1 and select “Standard Controller”. Click “Configure”. Under Device, click the dropdown menu and select “Microsoft X-Box 360 pad 0”. Close the window; we’ll configure our controls in Game Mode.

Now we copy the HD textures over. Copy the RSBE01 folder from the PMEX Remix Dolphin build and put it in ~/.local/share/FasterPPlus/Load/Textures/.

Configure Controls in Game Mode

Return to Game Mode. Project+ should be available under the “Non-Steam” category. Launch it. At this point you’ll need to access the controller configuration window with the touchscreen. Tap “Controllers” and “Configure” port 1 if you’re using the Deck’s integrated controls. Now you can set up the controls to your liking. Tap “Close” when finished. (If you can’t close the window for some reason, just hold the Steam button and press left on the D-pad to close it.)

Good to Go!

After controls have been set, launch the offline version of PMEX Remix. Ensure the game runs and the controls, graphics, etc. are to your liking. Any time you want to exit the game and return to Dolphin, just hold Steam + left on the D-pad. You can also return to Steam like you would with any other game by pressing the Steam button and selecting the appropriate action from the context menu.

Optional Steps

Get Artwork

We can give custom artwork to PMEX Remix in our Steam library. This is thanks to the SteamGridDB plugin. Install Decky Loader if you don’t have it already. From there you can access the plugin store in Game Mode and install SteamGridDB.

Select Project+ from your Steam library. Press Start and select “Change Artwork…” from the context menu. Search for “pmex” in the search filter. You should be able to see “Super Smash Bros PM EX Remix” from the list and select it. Now you can get PMEX Remix-themed artwork for the capsule, hero, logo, etc! You’re not going to regret it; it’s going to give your Steam library a fresh coat of paint.

Run PMEX Remix Immediately

There’s no checkbox for starting up the default ISO when Dolphin is launched. Meaning that every time we want to launch the game, we have to use the touchscreen with Dolphin to launch the appropriate file. This can be a bit clunky in Game Mode, since we don’t have access to a mouse and keyboard. However, we can add a custom parameter to Steam so that it immediately launches the offline version of PMEX Remix when Project+ is started up.

In Desktop Mode, right-click Project+ from your Steam library and to go the Properties menu. Under “Launch Options” set the path to the offline .elf file. So it might look something like this:

PMEX\ REMIX\ 0.95DX\ \[DOLPHIN\]/Launcher/P+EX\ REMIX\ OFFLINE/Project_Offline_Launcher.elf

Test these settings by running the emulator through Steam and verifying that it immediately launches PMEX Remix.

Optimal Performance Settings

I recommend setting the TDP limit to around 5 W and a GPU clock speed of 600 MHz. I haven’t tested how long the battery lasts with these settings, but this should give you a longer-lasting battery. You can technically lower these values and still get 60 FPS in most cases, but there will be some stuttering here and there depending on what’s going on on-screen and the number of characters there are, so 5 W and 600 MHz is a more generous value. You can install PowerTools and further fine-tune the Deck’s hardware for more optimal battery life.

Need Help?

Join my Discord and go to the #support channel. I’ll see if I can help you out. Otherwise, you might be able to ask for help in the PM EX Remix Discord.

Also, let me know if you guys want a video guide in addition to this.

Weekly News Recap (Windows Handheld Mode, Faster and Smaller Shaders, Negative Steam Reviews)

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 21:28:05 +0000

Steam Deck

docks need to stop looking the same
Microsoft reportedly looking into Handheld Mode with Windows
Mesa 23.1 to get faster shader compilation
shader sizes to be reduced by up to 60% with Mesa 23.1
Gardiner Bryant has some pretty neat Steam Deck-themed merch
Boiling Steam has a guide for getting Amazon Luna to work nicely
Grounded to get Deck support in a future update

Software Updates

Wine 8.6 fixes 25 bugs
GE-Proton 7-55 restores EAC compatibility, enables NVAPI for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
MangoHUD 0.6.9 adds support for Artix and Nobara, fixes several issues
The Last of Us 1.0.3 gets a few Deck-related fixes

Other

writing a Steam review? A negative review may be removed
I interviewed Valve contractor Tim Besset, who works on the Steam for Linux client
Open Gamepad UI is a new open-source game launcher written in Godot 4 that bakes in Gamescope support
keep your comments civil
Ubisoft looking to hire a Linux systems engineer for XDefiant

You May Never Be Able to Write a Negative Steam Review Again

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 16:51:59 +0000

Slashdot user jth1234567 has reported a negative Steam review for Warlander that has been pulled off from the Steam store page:

In late January, a Steam user posted a negative review for the game Warlander, warning potential buyers about the shady anti-cheat system the game was using, the apparent problems being intrusive data collection and difficult removal after the game itself had been uninstalled (the review text is no longer available). This review stayed on top as the most helpful review for nearly three months, which must have been a big thorn in the side for the developer and the publisher.

On Thursday, however, the devs behind the game were apparently able to get a Steam moderator to remove the review. The review was categorized as “attempting to scam users or other violations of Steam’s rules & guidelines.” As a result of this categorization, the 2,439 people who marked the review as “helpful” while it was still online received this in their inbox:

Any user who voted on that review or left it an award are now restricted from voting on any review on Steam for an entire month. Meanwhile the folks who voted on the review and contacted Steam support were met with this automated response:

You’ll want to check your email for details regarding the specific content that was banned. If you don’t remember voting on this content, you’ll want to carefully review the following account security article, as it’s highly likely that your account and PC are compromised: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1266-OAFV-8478. The email will also have details about when the vote ban will expire. Steam Support does not adjust the length of vote bans.

Less than a day ago it seems like Steam came up with a resolution that “removed the vote ban on all of the affected accounts” and provided clarification as to what caused the ban. Evidently the moderator that removed the review identified it “as potentially dangerous to other players” since some of the steps outlined in it required regisry edits, which “led to the additional lock that was placed on your account and voter accounts.” The review was unbanned since it doesn’t contain “phishing links, attempts to scam or deceive players, or anything else that warrants a lock.”

Even though Steam may have eventually resolved this issue, it highlights how flawed their review system is:

Even though a negative review may actually be legitimate, devs/publishers can just use a mod to flag the review as a scam and ultimately remove it, thus forcing only positive reviews on their Steam store page.
Even if a mod doesn’t mark the review as a scam, or doesn’t remove it entirely, users who vote that review as helpful can have their accounts suspended from voting on any review for a period of time.

Of course, there’s two sides to the coin here. Some negative reviews are left by trolls who have no good argument as to why the game is bad. There’s also the case of games getting “review bombed,” as demonstrated when Bioshock Infinite introduced a game launcher not too long ago. So, there’s a bit of a balance to strike here as far as what reviews get approved and which ones don’t.

In the meantime, I would exercise caution when leaving a negative review, or marking an existing one as “helpful.” Last thing you want to happen is for your review to get removed, or have your account suspended for voting any review, even though you have innocent intentions. And take the overall rating system with a grain of salt; a game with an overall rating of “Very postive” could very well be “Mixed” or “Negative”.

Friendly reminder that I do NOT approve of toxic comments. You’re welcome to disagree on the topic at hand, but any comments that are worthless will be removed!

Wine 8.6 Adds Fixes for Team Fortress Arcade, Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead, and Hogwarts Legacy

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 20:15:59 +0000

Wine 8.6 is now out. Included in this update is 25 bug fixes, “bundled math library from Musl libc”, Gecko updated to 2.47.4, and “improved spool file support in the PostScript driver”. Oh, something that caught my eye in the bug fix list, is apparently Watchtower Library 2016 would previously crash when playing a video; this has been fixed. (Kind of curious why someone would use an older version of the program…)

Bug fixes are as follows (game fixes are in bold):

#28586 Team Fortress Arcade & Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead music doesn’t play
#32490 Graphical issues in Inquisitor (red squares painted on the screen)
#49332 CounterPath Bria Solo crashes after login dialog
#51178 The Bat! v9.3.4.12: Missing content in TTreeViews on Windows versions higher than 8
#53781 Multiple apps crash on unimplemented function CFGMGR32.dll.CM_MapCrToWin32Err (Matrix Awakens MegaCity Unreal Engine 5.1 demo, Hogwarts Legacy)
#54728 Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 demo takes +- 9 minutes to complete extracting ‘Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 DEMO.msi’ (disabling ‘Light’ theme works around)
#11436 Pepakura viewer: err:wgl:X11DRV_wglShareLists Could not share display lists, context already created !
#18773 Multiple apps need DirectShow MPEG Layer-3 decoder filter / l3codecx.ax (The Westerner, 3D Mark 2001SE)
#42372 Watchtower Library 2016 crashes when trying to play a video
#49002 Multiple games trigger GL_INVALID_FRAMEBUFFER_OPERATION in wined3d (Free Horror Game “My Place”, DiRT Rally 2.0)
#52193 schtasks.exe:schtasks fails on Windows 7 when missing privileges
#53128 Without elevated privileges schedsvc:rpcapi fails on Windows 7
#53269 uiautomationcore:uiautomation fails on Windows 10 1909
#53983 Chromium broken sandbox, needs NtQueryInformationProcess with ProcessHandleTable
#54106 taskschd:scheduler - test_GetTask() fails on Windows 7 when it has insufficient privileges
#54109 schedsvc:rpcapi causes taskschd:scheduler to crash on w7u_adm
#54110 CubicSDR crashes on unimplemented function msvcp140.dll.?_Rethrow_future_exception@std@@YAXVexception_ptr@1@@Z
#54594 dinput:device8 - test_dik_codes() sometimes gets timeouts on the GitLab CI
#54634 schtasks.exe:schtasks causes taskschd:scheduler to crash on w7u_adm and w8adm
#54666 Compilation fails with gcc 4.8.4 - error: missing binary operator before token “(”
#54713 dinput:device8 - test_mouse_keyboard() fails on some Window 7 locales
#54772 LDAP Explorer (LEX) fails to connect without SSL
#54774 dinput:device8 - test_overlapped_format() sometimes gets a timeout in Wine (GitLab CI)
#54781 Wine fails to update existed prefix
#54819 DnsQuery_A() mishandles CNAME DNS records

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Warner Bros.

7 Ways Steam Deck Docks Could Be Improved

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 02:47:47 +0000

Much like the baby boom of portable PC handhelds – especially after the release of the Steam Deck – there’s also a baby boom of Deck accessories. In particular, docks are among some of the most common. I’ve reviewed a couple of them myself.

But as Hi-Tech Lo-Life brings out in his video, there’s a bit of a problem: docks really don’t offer much of a competitive advantage over the other. Many of them offer the same experience and the same type and quantity of ports. Even in terms of appearance and color, they’re pretty much the same. Cryobyte33 also got involved in the discussion, in terms of what needs to be improved with Deck docks.

Here are the things they mention. In their video they mention 10 ways, but I condensed it down to seven, since a few of their points are redundant:

1. Different Design

Reason: “It gets kind of boring to look at.” HTLL says there should be different colors, RGB [read: the abandoned dock by JSAUX], maybe “some crazy design that’s never been unveiled before.”

Cryobyte mentions a dock that holds the Deck upside-down. It may look a little silly, but it’s brilliant: it’s almost a Switch-like experience, because when the Deck is connected, HDMI is immediately put out. No need to finger around for the cable. It also allows the Deck to “easily slip in and out whenever you need it.” A design like that could also make room for a fan “that siphons from the exhaust, similar to the JSAUX modular version, but with a larger, constantly powered fan.”

2. Add HDMI-CEC (Consumer Electronic Control) Support

Most, if not all docks are going to offer at least one HDMI port. So even though you can connect your Deck to your TV, that’s pretty much all you can do there. Without CEC, you can’t control the TV volume and input directly from the Deck. Cryobyte mentions there are “some really cool automations” that you can do with scripting, if CEC was supported.

3. Put the Ports in Front, Not the Back

Got some wired controllers that you’d like to connect to the dock? Wouldn’t it be so much more convenient if the ports were located in the front? HTLL mentions that setting up fighting game tourneys would make cable management and inserting/disconnecting the cables much easier.

4. Add VRR Support

Apparently there are plans to add VRR support to the DisplayPort on the official dock in an upcoming update, but no other dock has this advantage. VRR will make “a huge boost to playability at higher resolutions.”

Image credit: Cryobyte33

HDMI over USB-C doesn’t support VRR. But Cryobyte believes “that it could be done by tapping into DisplayPort’s alt mode and then converting to HDMI on the dock itself.” Again, Cryo emphasizes the importantance of VRR support since more and more TVs incorporate this feature, and with VRR over HDMI, “the Steam Deck could push 4K much more enjoyably and allow for a greater range of games to be played at higher resolutions in general.”

5. Add Different I/O and More USB-C Ports

Your typical dock has three USB ports, a USB-C port, an HDMI port, and an Ethernet jack. Why not add things like a MicroSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, more HDMI/USB-C ports, etc? Only thing that currently stands out is the JSAUX dock with the M.2 slot.

HTLL: “I’m a firm believer of USB type C-ing everything.” He argues USB-C is “just a better connector than any other type of USB,” so he wants to see more USB-C ports.

6. Make Room for Cases

Say you put on the Killswitch or the ModCase as a way to protect your Deck. Most docks don’t have enough room to accomodate the extra space the skin takes up, forcing you to take the skin off in order to properly dock the Deck.

Image credit: HTLL

7. Modular USB-C Cable

This is definitely something I can agree with. I’ve yet to see one dock that has a detachable USB-C cable. So, if the USB-C cable goes bad, well, you’re pretty much screwed, since all of the ports are powered by that one cable. On the other hand, if the cable was detachable, you could easily replace a damaged cable with a new one, thus extending the longevity of your dock. Cryo also argues this would make for a smaller box, avoiding “unnecessary e-waste in the event of a breakage, and even allow for aftermarket modifications that would otherwise need a USB-C extension cable.”

Yup, this all makes sense to me. That being said, JSAUX has a dock for their ModCase that I’m expecting soon. It looks like it has two USB-C ports, a DisplayPort, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a MicroSD card reader. Maybe that will offer some advantages…

Cover image credit: JSAUX

So, about that Windows Handheld Mode...

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 19:25:48 +0000

Supposedly Microsoft held an internal hackathon way back in September 2022. And it appears that as of today, the video has been leaked. In it, the developer admits Windows’ problems when it comes to having a gamepad-friendly user interface, and the steps Microsoft has been trying to work on:

We looked at taking some of the first steps of creating a truly optimized Windows experience for the handheld PC market, which is really just starting to grow right now due to a device called the Steam Deck.

The dev acknowleges the following issues with Windows on Deck/other PC handhelds:

“pretty rough” with basic drivers
lack of controller support outside of Steam
poor display interpretation
“trouble accessing the VRAM” – some games won’t even start
poor optimization for the Windows virtual keyboard, as well as the UI and UX

Microsoft has been looking into some solutions for this:

“Handheld sprint” by Dorothy Fang – “she explored all the things that ultimately we want in a handheld”
touch keyboard that “can be navigated by control”
new taskbar “that’s optimized for panels”
the use of Steam Deck Windows Controller Driver to allow the Deck’s controls to be usable
“Gaming Shell” by Hayden McAfee, which “gives us a quick way to launch games”

Windows Handheld Mode seeks to combine some of these projects into one solution. It will install the necessary drivers and services on your system, restart, and then it will live inside the taskbar. From there you can change “basic settings” including:

master switch toggle - turning this off may help with issues in Steam games
a way to customize what each button is mapped to
power settings
a way to check for updates

They’ve reported as a result of this, the controller works, and the foundation for a launcher is in place. The dev reports that their goals “seem feasible as long as we have the right specialists” and “the right expertise”:

Everyone working on this project really feels that this is something that that Windows users need, they deserve to have, and it’s something that we all want to see eventually. If we can truly dial in this handheld experience we could also see new revenue streams and a lot of goodwill in the PC gaming community.

It’s a noble effort. I think we can all agree Windows at the moment is a pretty bad experience for PC gaming handhelds, and this effort – provided that it actually becomes a reality – will be one step in the right direction. Companies that refuse to support the Deck – such as Bungie with Destiny 2 – their games will be playable.

Still, I see a lot of flaws with this move.

For one, it’s still Windows. You still have all that crap running in the background – antivirus, spyware, constant pings to Microsoft’s servers while checking for updates. Using up precious RAM and battery life.

Second, I understand this project is still in its infant stages, but notice how the video doesn’t address the issue with VRAM, better driver support with such things as the Deck’s APU, and display orientation. Do they have any plans on addressing that?

Third, Valve has little to no control as far as driving the development of Window’s AMD drivers. That would be entirely up to AMD and Microsoft. So, Valve wouldn’t be able to configure the drivers in a way that are specific to the Deck or other PC handhelds.

Fourth, what about customizing the TDP limit, GPU clock speed, CPU speed, etc? Is there even going to be a Quick Access Menu for that?

And keep in mind this is a “hackathon.” Meaning, something that Microsoft is just hacking together for a solution. Why not just use the foundation that Xbox has already provided and make an Xbox handheld instead? The controller-driven interface is already there.

These are the issues I can think of on top of my head. I’m sure if I were to mull it over, I could probably think of several other reasons why you should just stick to SteamOS instead of Windows.

Maybe I’m being a little too harsh I this though. I’d like to know what you think. Is Windows Handheld Mode a good idea? Would you switch over to Windows if it actually becomes a reality?

All images used are credit of Microsoft

Steam Deck Shader Cache Sizes to be Cut in Half

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 18:21:43 +0000

As if faster shader compilation wasn’t good enough, there’s another exciting update to look forward to with Mesa 23.1: shader cache size being reduced by up to 60%.

See the merge request for more details. This MR reworks the Vulkan pipeline cache for RADV, and as a result, this supposedly means smaller shader cache sizes for your games. Certainly a welcome change, particularly for those on Steam Deck with sparse storage and limited time available for keeping the device online for downloading shader updates.

Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed to PCGamer that not all games may necessarily get 60% space savings, due to “the size of transcoded video depots” not being changed at all.

I have a hunch this Mesa 23.1 update will come to Deck users with the upcoming SteamOS 3.5 update, which will also have a much-needed kernel upgrade and a feature to disable SMT. If I were to take a guess, this update will arrive sometime mid-May to early summer. The reduced shader cache size should also benefit Linux desktop users who are using RADV.

An Interview with Timothée Besset, Valve Contractor

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 16:08:01 +0000

Typically, when you read or hear an interview with Valve, it comes from the likes of Pierre-Loup Griffais, Lawrence Yang, and even Gaben himself – especially when it comes to the Steam Deck. However, there’s a lesser-known face, Timothée Besset, based in Dallas, Texas. He’s been a contractor for Valve since 2015, and his work towards Steam for Linux, as well as his work on the developer experience for the Deck, is just as important as everyone else’s work to make Linux and Steam Deck gaming a reality.

I’ve had the privilege of getting to know him a bit better. You’ll find he is quite the Quake fan, particularly with Quake 3, and was involved in helping a lot of id Software titles come over to Linux prior to his time at Valve. He was also involved with bringing Rocket League over to Linux. Oh, and here’s a bonus: Street Fighter V on Linux, as a native binary, actually existed.

TL;DR

became familiar with Linux with the use of HP-UX, SunOS (now known as Solaris), and IRIX
started in the late 90s working for id Software, writing utilities for Quake 2’s level editor and tools
“I was the Linux, multiplayer dedicated servers, gameplay and netcode guy” for id Software when he worked full-time for the company starting in 2004
contracted by Valve in late 2015 for helping them “on various Linux projects”
Tim mostly works on the Steam for Linux client, the Steam Linux Runtime, and the developer experience for Steam Deck
primarily codes with C++ and Python
favorite game engine is idTech4
favorite game: Quake 3
helped bring Rocket League and Street Fighter V to Linux, along with “several” other titles (yes, SFV for Linux actually existed, but was never publicly released for “various reasons”)
Proton was a good move for developers who don’t have the experience or the time becoming familar with Linux, but Tim says a native Linux version is better for “an extra few percent of performance and battery life” and easier debugging
“It is now much easier to produce native binaries with stronger guarantees that they run well across the major Linux distributions,” thanks to Valve’s containerized runtime/image
new Steam Linux runtime in the works: sniper, with “updated compiler and userspace libraries”
common engines such as Unreal, Unity, and Godot truly do offer one-click export and support for Linux, provided there aren’t any middlewares or shaders that don’t support Linux in the way
the Steam Deck: “I love it!”

Give us a deep dive in regards to who you are, your history in the gaming industry, and how you ended up becoming a contractor at Valve.

I got started in the late nineties writing utilities around id Software’s level editor and tools for Quake 2 (idTech2). When Loki Software folded, id passed the maintenance of Quake 3 (idTech3) to me for a few years. I eventually joined full time in 2004, after working on various idTech3 titles (RTCW, Wolf:ET).

Image credit: id Software

By then I was the Linux, multiplayer dedicated servers, gameplay and netcode guy. I continued doing that through shipping Doom 3, Quake 4 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

I then went back to idTech3 for a special project that became QuakeLive. Probably my favorite thing to have worked on in that era - I had my hands in all the pies, doing tech, writing backend systems, play(testing) the game.

After that it was time to move on. id was losing interest in multiplayer and it was time to go. I worked for a small mobile games company here in Dallas, and continued building backend systems and cloud apps.

Image credit: id Software/Bethesda

I was getting calls from former colleagues, folks who knew my work to have me contribute to the cool things they were building, so I transitioned to freelancing. Pretty scary thing to do but so far it works out.

In late 2015 Pierre-Loup Griffais reached out about helping Valve on various Linux projects.

How did you get started on your Linux journey?

I started with HP-UX, SunOS and IRIX really. Eventually I could afford a PC and found that I didn’t need to walk across campus to the computer lab anymore, I could continue using all the tools I was familiar with :)

Image credit: HP

With Valve, what do you typically work on?

I mostly focus on the Steam client for Linux, on the runtime for running titles, and on the Steam’s build environment and compiler toolchains. I also work on the developer experience for Steam Deck with the devkit program and associated tools.

What game engines and programming languages are you most familiar with? Is there any particular one that’s your favorite? (Outside of Source 2)

I’m primarily working in C++ and Python. I keep an eye on Rust, Go, C#, Scala .. I’ve played with Haskell and Erlang but those are mostly just out of curiosity.

Of all the engines I’ve worked with idTech4 (Doom 3) is probably still my favorite. Daniel Gibson maintains a modernized version that is very faithful to the original and Fabien Sanglard wrote a pretty complete review of the architecture.

Although the source isn’t public, I would give an honorable mention to Saber3D engine. A very clean and extensible, pragmatic, “C++ first” implementation.

Back when Valve was making a push for native Linux games, what games have you personally contributed towards making the Linux port a reality? Can you comment on what the porting process was like for any of them?

There were several but Rocket League and Street Fighter V were the two biggest ones. I think this effort drove home that as projects kept getting bigger and the visibility of Linux releases grew, we were reaching the limits of what a single person shop could do in terms of porting.

Outfits like Aspyr and Feral are better positioned there but ultimately the larger the project the more studios want to retain control and be closely involved in the production and QA of the port - quite understandably.

Back in 2015, Capcom announced that Street Fighter V was coming to Linux. We didn’t hear anything about that until 2018, when you had reported to Boiling Steam “It’s not dead.” Nowadays, we can play the game via Proton, but can you comment as to whether a native Linux build actually existed?

Right, there was a native build. It never got released to the public for various reasons, but when I look at it playable via Proton on Steam Deck now, I think the efforts and learnings that went into the port did contribute to making that happen.

Image credit: Capcom

Even though the Steam Machines were met with poor reception, what are your honest thoughts about that? Do you think it helped provide the incentive for more native Linux games, or was it just a failed project?

I wasn’t around during Steam Machines so I don’t really have any comments there. But like SFV I think it greatly informed what Valve is doing now.

Back in 2018, Valve introduced Steam Play/Proton, and with this, many, many more titles on Windows were possible to play on Linux, and the number of compatible titles continues to grow with every update. How do you feel now that your work on titles like Rocket League have kind of went down the drain, now that Proton has taken over? Do you still work on helping developers bring their game over to Linux, or do you advocate for Proton instead?

What I love about Proton is the options that it gives developers for bringing their game to the Steam Deck. Trying to ship a Linux port when you lack the resources, time and know-how is not a good place to be for a developer. So we remove that pain. Now we see developers who want to ship native for the right reasons - they squeeze an extra few percent of performance and battery life, their codebase gets battle-tested against multiple compilers and runtime environments, etc.

We’ve done a lot of work to provide a solid runtime environment for native titles running under Steam for Linux. Unlike Windows, there’s really nothing like binary backwards compatibility and ‘universal binaries’ in the Linux world, and we have to make sure that the many native titles that have shipped since Steam became available on Linux continue running smoothly.

A few years back we started supporting execution of native titles in a containerized runtime. We also maintain an SDK distributed as a container image. It is now much easier to produce native binaries with stronger guarantees that they run well across the major Linux distributions where Steam for Linux can be installed.

Now we are beginning to roll out an updated runtime codenamed sniper, which offers updated compiler and userspace libraries. A few titles on the store are already using it.

You had mentioned “Now we see developers who want to ship native for the right reasons - they squeeze an extra few percent of performance and battery life.” Can you comment on this a bit further? How exactly does shipping a Linux binary increase performance and battery life?

There is a bit of overhead with Proton. It’s not very much, and it keeps decreasing with the constant work to improve the technology, but it’s there.

There are also other advantages. A native build will be slightly easier to debug and fine tune performance for. We support remote debugging with Proton and Visual Studio, but if you have a native binary it’s still a little easier to work that way.

Let’s say I make a game with Unreal Engine 5. Supposedly there’s the argument of, “You can export the game to Linux with just one click,” but is that really true? Is there more than just the one-click export? (I would imagine it depends on the complexity of the game, whether there is middleware involved, whether some more performance optimization can be added in, etc.)

For the most part it seems Unreal Engine, Unity and Godot are truly ‘one-click export’ to produce a solid native build that works with Steam for Linux. Provided like you said that you haven’t pulled in middlewares that do not support Linux as a target. With UE you may have a few surprises if you’ve never tested your setup with Vulkan and may need to tweak a few of your shaders but that’s about it.

Image credit: ArtificialLife Newsletter

What are your thoughts on the Steam Deck?

I love it! I’m biased of course, I can’t be negative about working on a product that clicks so well with it’s audience. Other than the devices I have on my desk for dev and testing, I don’t see the ‘gaming’ Decks at my house much - my kids immediately appropriated them.

What are your favorite games of all time?

That would be Quake 3 and it’s mods. It was very meaningful for me professionally but also I still hang out with the friends I made during that era. Played a lot of Threewave CTF, Rocket Arena, Urban Terror .. I’m really a pure multiplayer guy, there’s not much single player content that ever caught my attention. Oh, and I played a lot of EvE Online for a few years .. if it’s still around when I retire I might well go back to it :)

Image credit: id Software

Where can people find you?

For Valve / Steam matters I can be reached at ttimo@valvesoftware.com (please don’t spam me). I’ve dropped off all social media at this point except Mastodon.

Tim also has a blog and even his own page on Wikipedia if you want to get to know him even more. In addition, he has several GitHub repos from the likes of the Doom 3 GPL source release, Vulkan, and Mesa.

Thanks to Tim for making himself available to be interviewed!

Fancy Yourself Some Steam Deck Merch? Gardiner Bryant Has You Covered

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 17:40:35 +0000

Gardiner Bryant, formerly known as The Linux Gamer, is a YouTuber that mostly talks about the Steam Deck. I interviewed him last year. He recently asked if I’d be willing to talk about his store, to which I happily obliged. I have to admit, he’s got some pretty good stuff.

He mostly sells T-shirts, although he does have a hoodie and some stickers. Almost every shirt has something to do with the Steam Deck, but the twist is they add a throwback to a retro gaming console. For instance, there’s a Sega Genesis-themed shirt that has the theming of the Sega Genesis logo, but says “Steam Deck”. The product description is as follows:

The Steam Deck is our favorite gaming device for emulation, so we thought “why not represent that with a commemorative shirt?”

There’s many more, from the likes of the Gabe Boy, a SNES-styled shirt, and one with the Dreamcast logo. There’s also a few “free software” and “open-source”-themed shirts, although I don’t find them to be as appealing.

As I was browsing through his catalogue, I noticed he didn’t have a GameCube-themed shirt. I told him that it was an absolute must to have one, and in the same day, he actually made one. The description is an absolute killer:

Represent your love of Steam Deck and melee the competition in this cube-inspired gaming shirt.

It was so good I actually bought one…and I’m expecting it within the next couple of days. Note that you can also adjust the color of the apparel to your liking.

So, if you like both the Steam Deck and retro consoles, I think you might actually enjoy these designs. Head over to Gardiner’s store to see what he’s got! Use the code LGCFRIENDS until April 22nd for 10% off!

GE-Proton7-55 Fixes EAC Compatibility, Updates Tools to Latest Bleeding Edge

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 19:38:28 +0000

The hotfix for Star Citizen in GE-Proton7-53 evidently “broke EAC compatibility for other games,” so today’s update to GE-Proton fixes this.

In addition, the usual set of tools have been updated to git or latest bleeding-edge, including Wine, DXVK, and VKD3D-Proton. NVAPI is enabled for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and the legacy xactengine Winetricks Protonfix was removed.

The patch notes also mention that if you’re using Lutris 0.5.13-beta1, you’ll need to use a patch to prevent SteamGameId from being overridden.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Square Enix

Open Gamepad UI - Open-Source Game Launcher

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 18:08:52 +0000

I know, I know – this is probably the umpteeth game launcher you’ve heard about. You probably can’t help but think of that web comic where there are 14 competing standards, but someone says, “We need to develop one universal standard that covers everyone’s use cases.” Then soon thereafter there are 15 competing standards.

But this one in particular holds a special place in my heart, because this project was created by some of the ChimeraOS developers. It’s called Open Gamepad UI. From the project description on GitHub:

Open Gamepad UI is a free and open source game launcher and overlay written using the Godot Game Engine 4 designed with a gamepad native experience in mind. Its goal is to provide an open and extendable foundation to launch and play games. It also implements a gamepad input system that can allow you to remap gamepad input to mouse and keyboard inputs.

It also offers some advantages that other game launchers don’t have:

integrates Gamescope
the overlay apparently works with all games
has gamepad mapping/input translation

Open Gamepad UI is available in the AUR, and there’s also a .desktop file on the Releases for easy installation on Deck. Otherwise, other distros can follow the instructions for installing the binary. The binary can be installed system-wide, as a systemd extension for immutable distros, or locally in your home directory.

Basically, think of Open Gamepad UI as a launcher for your Steam games. You can also launch Heroic Games Launcher from here, if it’s installed on your system, as well as some other applications. Non-Steam games don’t seem to show up in the library.

Currently there’s four plugins that you can install and use:

Steam – installing this and logging into your Steam account will give you access to more of your Steam library
SteamGridDB – for giving the games in your library the proper artwork
Recapture – for capturing gameplay footage
Flathub – browse for Flatpaks from Flathub

Documentation is available should you want to make your own plugin.

There’s this neat little animation that plays when the launcher is run, and there’s some sound effects to boot when navigating across the UI. A different animation plays when a game is being launched. Updates can be seamlessly run through the General tab in the Settings menu.

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But keep in mind, this launcher needs quite a bit of work. The GitHub even states this:

This project is currently in the very early stages of development.

Issues to Keep in Mind

The support of both gamepads and the keyboard + mouse is honestly atrocious at the moment. I think the launcher is extremely sensitive to the movements of my mouse. As a result, sometimes I can’t even navigate the menus with my DualSense because the launcher thinks I’m using the mouse/keyboard. The launcher icons constantly shift between the DualSense and the keyboard/mouse. The guide button on the DualSense doesn’t even work – it won’t bring up any of the menus.

If you want to exit the launcher, you’ll probably need to press Alt + F4. If you select “Exit” from the launcher’s menu, the launcher will just hang, and the only way you’ll be able to close it is by killing the gamescope-wl process.

For some reason, a few of your Steam games will be present in your library, but not all of them. You’ll need to install the Steam plugin and log into your Steam account to see all of your games.

SteamGridDB is kind of weird how it behaves – you’ll need to go to SteamGridDB’s website and obtain an API key. You’ll need to copy the API key and put it into the appropriate field in Open Gamepad UI to use it. From there, missing artwork for most of your games should now be showing up in your library, but as far as I can tell, you can’t customize the artwork.

The “Store” tab doesn’t even work – if you go to it, you’ll just be greeted with a blank page.

And keep in mind the overlay just doesn’t seem to work while in-game, at least with a DualSense. I’ll need to test with my Xbox pad to see if that works, but PS5 controllers are a bit iffy. Also know that you can’t change Proton versions.

There’s a page in the launcher where you can customize the controller configuration, but on desktop it shows a Steam Deck. I also can’t change the button behavior to use a different gamepad button, for some reason. I can only make a button use a mouse or keyboard input event. Otherwise, I’m stuck with the default button layout.

So yeah, I’d wait a while for the software to mature a bit before you use this, but it’s a pretty interesting project nonetheless.

A Note Regarding Comments

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 15:35:47 +0000

I welcome feedback. But in light of some of the many comments I’ve received over the past couple of weeks, there’s something I need to be transparent about: the comments that I approve and the ones I don’t.

There’s a difference between a worthwhile comment and a worthless one. See, the great thing about comments here on LGC, is you don’t need to have an account to make a comment. Neither is there any sort of moderation queue that needs my approval prior to your comment getting posted.

I’d say a good 90% of the comments I get are relevant to the post, and even if the commenter disagrees with a take that I might have on a certain topic, I by all means welcome that. In fact, I even encourage commenters to have a different opinion than I do; it’s great to get another person’s perspective on a matter.

The catch, however, is the comment needs to be said respectfully. I don’t welcome comments that are thoughtless – examples might include “I’m not reading this worthless trash; you have no idea what you’re talking about,” or “This is your worst take I’ve ever read, and I am unsubscribing from your blog.” For all I know, you might actually be right on your opinion. But I would remove that comment nonetheless – especially if you don’t give a reason for why you feel that way – for the sake of my sanity. It’s the same reason why I don’t read comments on posts that I submit on Reddit.

Again, I greatly appreciate the community’s thoughts on posts that I submit. I’m always interested in knowing what people are thinking. But just be aware, a worthless comment is going straight to the bin. So, if you ever notice your comment removed, you now know why. I’ve updated the About page with this information.

TL;DR Comments on articles are greatly appreciated, but please make your comment in a polite and respectful manner.

Shader Compilation on Linux Desktop/Steam Deck Is About to Get Much Better!

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 15:06:49 +0000

While SteamOS 3.4.6 upgraded Mesa to 23.1, it didn’t include faster shader compilation improvements. At least, not out of the box. I’ve noticed it myself; shader compilation times are just as ridiculous as it was before.

But here’s the good news: a merge request now enables the VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library extension by default. This is thanks for Samuel Pitoiset, who’s a part of Valve’s Linux graphics driver team. While you previously had to set the proper environment variables, this extension will now be enabled by default with Mesa 23.1.

I won’t get into too much detail regarding the MR itself, as it’s a bit over my head, but basically, according to Phoronix, this feature “should help with game load times and stutter avoidance.”

Only problem now is we’re going to have to wait a while before Mesa 23.1 becomes stable – the earliest we can expect is May 3rd. And who knows how long it will take after that before Valve decides to push an update out for SteamOS to include the stable release. In the meantime though, I guess you could compile Mesa from source to get this benefit immediately, if you’re feeling brave enough.

Cover image credit: Steam Deck Gaming

Weekly News Recap (Overclocking the Deck, Genshin Impact on Deck, Emulators Yanked from Xbox)

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 02:31:04 +0000

Steam Deck

CryoByte33, author of Cryoutilities, has a guide on how to undervolt and overclock your Deck
Halo: MCC now supports online multiplayer, with a few caveats
Genshin Impact is now playable with a few tricks
no such thing as a “Steam Deck killer”
beta client updates this week range from wake animation skip, improved perf of dual trackpad typing, the fixing of distorted audio, and autosave fixes
a report from Omdia suggests 1.6 million Decks were sold last year, and expect three million this year

Software Updates

ProtonUp-Qt 2.8.0 improves startup time, enhanced functionality to game list
GE-Proton 7-54 adds a few fixes for The Last of Us and the Uncharted Collection
Heroic Games Launcher 2.7.0 brings several improvements and bug fixes

Other

Emulators no longer allowed in retail mode on Xbox Series
I reviewed the Super Mario Bros. movie
The Last of Us mod apparently improves performance with decreased stuttering

Undervolting and Overclocking Your Deck: Tradeoffs

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 19:53:33 +0000

CryoByte33 recently released a video on how to undervolt or overclock the Deck, and the benefits versus disadvantages that come with each method. There’s also a transcript of the video over on Steam Deck HQ.

The process involves getting Smokeless_UMAF, flashing the firmware to a USB drive, booting from said drive while it’s connected to the Deck, and modifying the BIOS settings from there.

Undervolt for Increased Battery Life

Why would you undervolt the Deck? Cryo explains:

Undervolting can help maintain higher speeds for longer, which can improve performance. It usually even improves the battery life of the Deck!

Undervolting in Cryo’s case with Elden Ring made the CPU two-to-three degrees Celcius cooler. GPU temp also went down by two-to-five degrees. And the performance was almost exactly the same without undervolting. Cryo notes “I was able to go from one hour and 31 minutes of battery life to one hour and 46 minutes…that’s a boost of 16% to battery life, despite performance being nearly identical.”

That being said, undervolting can carry a risk:

If you lower the voltage too much your Deck may not be able to boot. Most people have been able to recover from this, but I’m aware of 1 case where an RMA needed to be done from pushing the Deck way too hard.

Overclock for Increased Performance

You can increase your Deck’s TDP higher than 15 W. This requires disabling the updated fan curve in SteamOS, changing the PPT values in Smokeless UMAF to 15000, and making use of the PowerTools plugin. Don’t set the TDP any higher than 20 W.

Seems like Cyberpunk 2077 “had averages on low increase by 9% and averages on high increase by 5%, along with a substantial boost to lows and 97th percentile on the high preset.” Elden Ring had 6% and 4% boost to averages.

But here’s the side effect: the battery went from one hour 31 minutes to “roughly 59 minutes,” a 35% reduction.

In addition to the TDP, you can also overclock the CPU/GPU. Again, don’t push the numbers too high if you want to keep your Deck in good working condition; Cryo recommends a max CPU speed of 3800 MHz and a max GPU speed of 1800 MHz.

If you want, you can combine all three: undervolt, increased TDP, and overclocked CPU/GPU. If you can strike a good balance between the three, you can get some decent results between an increase in performance while keeping the battery life nearly the same:

All of this was while maintaining an average battery life of 1 hour and 25 minutes while going full tilt, which is only a 7% decrease from the 1 hour and 31 minutes I get in an identical situation without either overclocking or undervolting.

See the video or post for more details. Of course, this doesn’t go without saying you’re doing these changes at your own risk.

Cover image credit: CryoByte33

Microsoft Pulls the Plug on Emulator Support for Xbox Series Consoles

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 14:57:56 +0000

In case you weren’t aware: you can run RetroArch on Xbox Series X|S and run emulators from the likes of Dolphin and Xenia on it. But unsurprisingly, emulators running on Xbox has sort of been this gray area for the big N, and evidently they were the ones to tell Microsoft to end emulation support. While this may not necessarily have anything to do with Linux or Steam Deck, I felt like it’s an important topic to discuss.

Xbox Series consoles offers two modes: retail mode, and developer mode. In developer mode, you’ll still be fine running emulators, but there are a few caveats:

$20 paywall to enable dev mode.
Restrictions by Microsoft apparently prohibit the Xbox hardware from using its full potential.

To counteract this, developers pushed emulators to other places, thereby allowing the emulators to run in retail mode. This would bypass the hardware restrictions, as well as the $20 fee, but even then, you still have to go through a couple of hoops.

Well, seems that starting today, Microsoft has banned emulators from running in retail mode. Microsoft Azure developer Alyanna McKenna mentioned this in an email she got from “a friend at the Xbox QA team”:

The primary reason for the ban is related to legal issues with Nintendo. While emulating itself is not illegal, it can be used to play games from consoles that are still under copyright protection without permission, which can create issues with Nintendo and its affiliates.

The email also mentions a “potential security risk” since some emulators apparently require “permissions beyond what is typical for an app.” That being said, the email goes on to say Microsoft doesn’t have any intentions on pulling emulator support from dev mode, and “we are still exploring ways to allow safe and legal emulation on Xbox.”

Now keep in mind this isn’t an official statement from Microsoft; this is just someone from the Xbox QA team. But I guess we have the assurance we can still run emulators on the Series consoles in dev mode, for now.

Or, better yet, just use EmuDeck on Steam Deck. Probably the easiest emulation solution out there.

Cover image credit: Modern Vintage Gamer

Halo: Master Chief Collection Gets 'Playable' Steam Deck Rating with Online Multiplayer Support

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 14:22:56 +0000

Kind of old news at this point, but in case you hadn’t caught up: Halo: Master Chief Collection gets online multiplayer support on Steam Deck. Per the description from the blog post:

Today’s update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection (MCC) upgrades the Steam Deck Compatibility from “Unsupported” to “Playable”, enabling players on Steam Deck to access modes that require Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), such as multiplayer matchmaking and the Custom Game Browser. Future updates for MCC will continue to improve Steam Deck compatibility as well.

While the game previously worked with the campaign modes, yesterday’s update adds online multiplayer support. I would assume that by extension, online multiplayer also works on Linux desktop.

There are, however, a few “gotchas”:

Launch options are reversed. For example, if you launch the game with “Anti-Cheat Disabled”, anti-cheat will actually be on.
Players may experience “freezing or crashing” after being removed from or leaving a party with other players via the Roster menu.
Campaign co-op and Spartan Ops are only available to other players who are also on Deck; these modes aren’t cross-compatible yet with PC/Xbox players.
“Players may need to change their preferred input device in-game to Gamepad” before playing input-restricted matchmaking.

Great news for Halo fans. This update is only…a few years late to the party, but better late than never I suppose.

Cover image credit: 343 Industries/Xbox Game Studios

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Wake Animation Skip, Fixes Steam Wallet Crash

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 02:59:10 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed crash when after funding the Steam Wallet when attempting to make an in-game purchase in the Overlay
Fixed issue where the Main Menu and Quick Access Menu stopped working after selecting a custom startup movie
Any button press will now cancel the Wake custom startup movie
Fixed a black screen freeze when selecting a store widget within a news post
Fixed issue where touching/clicking on store or community links in a news post within the client would not navigate to the website
Changed game invitations to show the launch option dialog instead of using the first option in the list. If the user has selected an option and asked to remember it, that option will be used instead of showing the dialog.

Also, there was a small update from yesterday:

General

Fixed download rate limiting not working in some cases
Improved performance of dual trackpad typing in the Virtual Keyboard

Steam Input

Added several missing Steam Link App virtual controller-specific settings to the configurator

Super Mario Bros. Movie - Good, But Not Necessarily Great

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 18:26:43 +0000

I guess the big N may have felt a bit threatened by the blue blur showing up on the big screen. Either that, or Nintendo may have wanted to expand their horizons a bit. Which, to be quite honest, is odd. First, they spearheaded the effort of making a Vulkan shader extension. I have never seen Nintendo contribute to FOSS in any way, shape, or form. And now, they’re dabbling with their most successful IP in animation form. I’m still trying to wrap my ahead around it.

Please note: there are a few spoilers here!

The Theater

I reserved my ticket online. I even got to pick where my seat was. I picked the leftmost seat in the center. Not too far away from the screen, but not too close either. Outside from having to move my feet every once in a while to let people in and out of my row, I’d say the chairs were pretty comfortable. Made of leather. There’s even a few buttons that allow you to bring up the chair’s foot rest and adjust the recline to your tastes.

The movie was scheduled for 12:05 in the morning. Half an hour’s drive in, I’m there around 12:00. Guy scans my QR code on my phone and tells me where to go. I’ll spare you the rant on the “convenience fee” for having popcorn delivered to my seat. Which they actually didn’t deliver; I had to go back out to the concession stand and tell the girl behind the counter I was supposed to have a large popcorn with extra butter delivered to me at 12:05 AM.

“The Mario popcorn tin is going to be $15,” the cashier said to the guys who were in front of me at the stand.

The guys look at each other, and one says, “That isn’t bad!” They buy the Mario brick-themed square tin, and ask for the butter to be layered. For that kind of price, yeah, that’s the very least they could do.

About 20 minutes of advertising before the show even starts, and my popcorn bucket is already half-empty.

The Movie

The movie starts off with Bowser’s castle crashing on some arctic land. Bowser, together with his Koopa Troopa minions, capture a star. The star grants invincibility, much like in the games themselves. Bowser wants to marry Peach, and rule the world with her.

Now, you’re probably thinking the movie carries the same formula as most of the games. And it does, to a degree. However, one thing that’s different, is Peach isn’t captured at the outset. It’s actually Luigi that needs the saving this time. Peach doesn’t just sit on the sidelines; she actually becomes the leader, to which Mario becomes sidekick, along with Toad. Finally, Peach isn’t the one who’s kidnapped.

If you’re wondering whether this movie is better than the one Nintendo tried to attempt in the 90s, well, you can be rest assured that it’s leagues upon leagues better. It was animated by Illumination, the same company that pioneered Sing, Despicable Me, and The Secret Life of Pets. The animation itself is pretty decent.

A common quote you’ll hear is “Chris Pratt didn’t kill the movie.” No, he didn’t. But I just found it very odd he was the one chosen to voice as the Italian red plumber. Jack Black voicing Bowser was pretty cool; same thing goes to Seth Rogen for Donkey Kong. It’s a bit different seeing the characters have voices, considering Mario and Luigi for the most part only speak grunts in the games. But, I guess for a movie, you gotta have voice actors to keep the animation entertaining.

Peach and Mario seek the help of Cranky Kong’s army to fight against Bowser and his minions, but to earn that, Mario has to fight against Cranky’s son, Donkey Kong, and win. I’ll also mention that, similar to the games, there are “power-up” blocks scattered throughout the world, and when they’re hit, it will reveal an item. The character will either get larger, smaller, turn into a cat, or be able to throw fireballs. Peach gets an ice flower that transforms her into Elsa from Frozen, basically.

Yup, here we find Donkey Kong’s dad. And, similar to the very first Mario game that came into existance, Mario and DK are frenemies.

Oh, and while I’m at it, we also discover Mario and Luigi’s parents, as well. Of course, spaghetti is served for supper, with mushrooms. So, instead of Charles Martinet voicing Mario, he actually voices his dad this time around. And for once, we actually get to see the two brothers work together to solve a water leak. They’re plumbers after all, right?

With the Mario Kart series being so popular, it’s no wonder why there’s segments where there’s racing. One Koopa Troopa drives around a monster truck, trying to crush Mario. Later on we find out this very same Koopa becomes the infamous “Blue Shell” weapon, that seeks to destroy the racer in first place. It was kind of neat to see more personality into some of these characters.

Did you know Bowser plays the piano? Yup, he’s pretty good at it too. Vocals, eh, not so much. “Peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches.” Bowser sings about the love of his life. This is one of the few times in the movie where I got a chuckle.

It’s kind of difficult to talk about this movie without getting into spoilers, so I think I’ll wrap up here. Would I recommend watching it? Yeah, it’s pretty decent. Is it something I would watch again though? Eh, that’s a tough one. Out of 10 stars, I would probably give the Super Mario Bros movie a 7.5. It’s good, but not super fantastic.

TL;DR

The good:

animation quality, colors are good
some genuinely funny moments
Chris Pratt didn’t kill the movie

The not-so-good:

plot isn’t entirely different than the majority of Mario games
Chris Pratt voicing Mario: why?

All images are credit of Illumination

ProtonUp-Qt 2.8.0 Improves Startup Time, Adds Sorting & Searching Functionality to Game List

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 17:34:34 +0000

Got a nice new update for ProtonUp-Qt, the fabulous tool for quickly obtaining the latest version of GE-Proton and other compatibility tools for Steam. Today’s update adds Proton-Tkg (Wine Master) as a compatibility tool. Lutris gets vanilla Wine as an added compatibility tool.

The game list now allows you to search and sort your games, and non-Steam games have been added. Speaking of game list, this has also been added for Lutris and Heroic Games Launcher.

Along with the 2.8.0 update is more keyboard shortcuts, a button in the About menu which allows you to add ProtonUp-Qt as a shortcut in your Steam library (great for Deck users), improved startup time, and “various small improvements.”

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

The Last of Us Mod Fixes Stuttering and Improves Performance

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 14:52:58 +0000

I know I’m recycling that meme-y “The last of my VRAM” image a little too much, but there’s potentially some hope for those of you looking to get better performance, even though the past couple of updates to the game haven’t done much.

On my Discord I’ve been made aware of a mod for The Last of Us. The description of the mod is as follows:

Run the game in Vulkan using DXVK – helps with crashes, performance, and stuttering.

Now, of course, I have to add the caveat that I have not personally tested this mod, as I don’t own the game, so I can’t confirm whether the mod does indeed improve performance. I’ve been told that in some tests, “it lowers RAM consumption by a lot and reduces/removes stutter while having a 10-30% performance decrease.” (I think they meant “increase” rather than “decrease.”)

To use the mod, download the version appropriate to your GPU vendor, and extract the zip file contents to the game’s installation folder. Obviously, Deck users are going to want to download the AMD version. If you want to enable HDR, open the dxvk.conf file and change the dxgi.enableHDR parameter from false to true.

There’s a few warnings that the modder describes:

The game will rebuild shaders and it will crash many times while doing this, will also lose DLSS [and] use FSR instead.
Listen Mode doesn’t work when using Vulkan; maybe degraded performance for some users.
Seems to not work with all AMD GPUs, NVIDIA seems fine for RTX 20-series and above.

Get the mod over on Nexus Mods. Note that you will need to have a Nexus account and be signed in to download.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes 4K Docked Startup Issue, Distorted Audio

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 02:58:32 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed a case where some 4K displays would show no output at bootup until the dock was reconnected
Fixed a case where audio could be distorted when resuming the Steam Deck
Fixed audio device management not working after the OS audio server restarts
Fixed an intermittent crash when the OS audio server restarts

Steam Deck Desktop

Fixed issue where viewing app properties caused the Steam client to be unusable

You Can Play Genshin Impact on Deck

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 20:24:52 +0000

UPDATE (4/12/2023): According to Steam Deck Gaming, Genshin Impact no longer runs on Deck with the recent 3.6 update. They report “the game no longer loads and sits on a black screen.”

In the meantime, I suppose you could try An Anime Game Launcher. I’m not going to link to the GitHub repo since the devs asked so, but a quick Google search should lead you to it along with a few YouTube tutorials.

Original article:

Steam Deck Gaming has figured out how to get Genshin Impact running on Steam Deck. They note:

It will take some time, the install process and verification process takes a long time so be sure to set a couple of hours aside to get up and running or do it in-between other tasks.

They also mention you’ll need a whopping 135 GB of available hard drive space to install.

Don’t let the 34 total steps daunt you – it’s not that difficult. You’ll have to download the Genshin Impact installer, add it as a non-Steam game, force Proton Experimental, and install the bad boy. Step 13 notes “Once the download is complete it will likely get stuck verifying resources, exit the launcher at this point, otherwise let it complete.”

From there you’ll need to add the launcher.exe file as a non-Steam game, which will be located inside the compatdata folder. Set Proton Experimental as the compatibility tool. Run the launcher again, set auto-launch to on, and show pop-up when exiting game. Make sure “Gamepad with Joystick Trackpad” is set as the controller profile in Game Mode. You’ll need to use the touchscreen in the main menu, then change the control type to controller from the Settings menu.

For optimized gameplay, set the game to Low settings, and cap the framerate to 45 FPS.

Steam Deck Checker also has a written post in addition to the video if you’d like to learn more.

Images are credit of Steam Deck Gaming

Please, Stop Using the Phrase 'Steam Deck Competitor'

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 16:40:42 +0000

If you see an article headline with the phrase “Steam Deck Competitor” or “Steam Deck Killer,” you know for a fact that article was made for clickbait purposes (much like my cruel April Fool’s prank with the Deck 2).

And we all figured the ASUS ROG Ally was a hoax when it was revealed on April 1st. To be honest, even though LTT and Dave2D have both got their hands on it, the whole thing still seems unreal to me.

What We Know

So, in case you hadn’t been caught up on the specs of this so-called “Steam Deck competitor,” here’s a brief overview of what we know so far:

7", 7ms, 1080p, 120 Hz panel, with a brightness of 500 nits
custom Ryzen APU with Zen 4 and RDNA 3, though no other details have been given
a port is provided on top of the device for connecting an external GPU. Not using Thunderbolt but it does have PCIe gen 3 x 8
supposedly it’s double the performance of the Deck, although I would assume that’s only when an eGPU is connected
608 grams in weight
dual-fan setup; apparently it’s much more quiet than the Deck
powered by Windows 11, with what appears to be a gamepad-oriented interface called the “Command Center” when the appropriate button is pressed, allowing you to customize the refresh rate, emulate a mouse, and more
uses M.2 2230 for storage
two back buttons
according to LTT, it’s not as comfortable to hold as the Deck
analog sticks have RGB rings, but are not hall effect
the D-pad is “solidly okay”
NVMe and analog sticks can be easily replaced
volume rocker, MicroSD card slot, USB-C, and fingerprint sensor are all on top

What We Don’t

Notice, however, what isn’t mentioned:

price. No, of course they’re not going to reveal the price just yet, but that’s the one key thing that every gamer is going to want to know firsthand
battery capacity, although LTT did mention it’s “competitive” to the Deck’s
amount of RAM, whether it’s using DDR4 or DDR5, or the speed
NVMe capacity, brand, or speed
whether the triggers are analog
whether there is built-in haptic feedback

Image credit: Dave2D

Also, notice the fact the handheld doesn’t have trackpads. It doesn’t have four back buttons. No one has mentioned whether the thumbsticks are capacitive or not. No one mentions whether it has a gyro. What about customizing the TDP limit or GPU clock speeds? Is that even possible without having to resort to a third-party app in desktop mode?

And I can’t help but laugh at the battery. Let’s assume it’s 40 Wh – or maybe be generous and say it’s 50 Wh. No way in hell this thing could last longer than 20 minutes playing a game at full 1080p resolution with a framerate higher than 60 FPS. 500 nits might be brighter than the 400 nits on the Deck, but that’s another huge chunk of your battery gone if you crank the brightness all the way up. Plug in an external GPU while you’re at it, and watch that battery gauge drain like a box truck driving around town.

Add to the fact this handheld is coming with Windows out of the box. All that spyware, all those unnecessary processes running in the background, consuming even more unnecessary battery. A desktop interface that wasn’t designed with a gamepad in mind. Sure, you can finally play those pesky games with EAC that don’t work on Deck, but is it really worth sacrificing Linux just to play PUBG? Gardiner Bryant explains this whole mess a lot better than I can.

As The Phawx brings out in his video, sure, you can sign up for reservations at Best Buy, an actual brick and motor store where you can pick it up, if the device ever becomes a reality. But I think the email sign-up is more so just a “survey” in the sense Best Buy and ASUS are gauging the level of interest in the device. The more signups they get, the more units they can produce, and the more units they produce, the less expensive the device will be. Notice we don’t even have a date as to when reservations will become available, nevermind when the product itself will actually be on that Best Buy shelf.

If they don’t get enough sign-ups, well, that’s probably the queue for ASUS to nip the bud and not make it at all.

Price, Price, and Price

I’m going back again to that price. I’m sure you’re aware of companies like Aya Neo, GPD, OneXPlayer, etc. who sell their handhelds at a number that’s a good two or even three times the price of the base model Deck. That’s a price that most people are not willing to pay. I did a poll over on Mastodon. 38% of voters believe the price will be anywhere from $700-$1000. 36% speculate more than $1000. Only 11% believe the price will be less than $500.

If it’s around $650-ish, and not anything higher, well, there might very well be competition here, at least as far as price goes. But you also have to consider, this is using Windows; ASUS probably won’t provide any support for users who decide to use Linux. The higher resolution, brightness, and refresh rate are just going to be a gas guzzler, and the fact they haven’t revealed any details on the battery is highly suspicious to me. And why not offer 2280 support for drives? That in of itself could have had an edge over the Deck, since 2230s tend to be a bit more pricey than the longer counterparts.

Image credit: LTT

Look, I’m all for competition. I think it’s great for someone to step into the fray, particularly a company that’s able to mass-produce these devices at a competitive price, and perhaps have some better performance to boot. And the Ally might be the closest thing we’re ever going to get. But I just don’t see it happening. Especially when so many details are vague.

Maybe this is just an extended April Fool’s prank.

What are your thoughts though? Do you think the Ally will actually be produced for the general market? Can it actually serve as the closest competitive offer to the Deck?

Cover image credit: Dave2D

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes In-Game Overlay, Autosaves from Getting Lost

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 02:58:02 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Steam Deck Desktop

Fixed an in-game overlay related crash introduced in the last beta release

Steam Input

Fixed a case where hitting the apply configuration button before a configuration preview was loaded could select the wrong configuration
Fixed a case where an autosave could get lost while editing
Fixed the DualSense configuration preview not showing the Mute button
Fixed error when viewing a configuration in the Search tab of the config browser

GE-Proton7-54 Adds Fixes for The Last of Us, Uncharted Collection

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 18:42:32 +0000

Disappointed by the lackluster PC port of The Last of Us? Well, I think it’s no longer the last of us. Not of your computer’s resources, anyway. Today’s update to GE-Proton updates VKD3D-Proton, which “brings in some fixes for The Last of Us, Uncharted, and a few more [titles].” You can take a look at the commit history for VKD3D-Proton for more details. I’m not sure how much got fixed, so The Last of Us may work only a little better. I wouldn’t know since I don’t own the game.

The update to Wine (bleeding edge) adds the EAC fix for Fall Guys. DXVK has also been updated, though it doesn’t seem like there were any specific game fixes mentioned with this update.

As for Protonfixes, one was removed for Saints Row 2, one was added for Carnage Cross, and a third was corrected for Outlaws. (The patch notes just says “Outlaws”; I’m assuming it’s in reference to Outlaws + A Handful of Missions from 7-52.)

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Weekly News Recap (Nintendo Actually Contributes to FOSS, Murder of a Hedgehog, E3 2023 Canned)

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 17:48:32 +0000

Steam Deck

it’s possible to play Half-Life: Alyx without VR
SteamGridDB is an awesome plugin to customize the artwork for your Steam games
Monday’s beta client update removes modal dialog when uninstalling games, along with a few fixes
Wednesday’s beta client update adds a fix for the install location dialog
Super Indie Karts gets full Deck support

Hardware

Gazelle laptop by System76 gets a refresh with Alder Lake
Turtle Beach REACT-R and Recon Xbox gamepads to get support in kernel 6.4

Software Updates

ChimeraOS 40 adds OOTB sound support for Steam Deck, adds a few more supported emulators. 41 adds a hotfix for users using 4K with an AMD GPU
Wine 8.5 adds a dark theme and upgrades VKD3D to 1.7
Proton Experimental 3.31.2023 fixes Fall Guys, Returnal, and King of Fighters XV

Other

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a free visual novel
Smash clones can’t keep up
“How do you dislike a Tweet again?” – coming from the words of Griffais, in regards to the “dangers” of emulation
Valve to stop supporting Windows 7/8/8.1 in January
Dolphin emulator coming to Steam
Nintendo, of all people, contributed to a Vulkan extension
Boiling Steam asks for this year’s Linux gaming predictions from the likes of The Linux Experiment, Luke Short, James Ramey from CodeWeavers, and more
in case you haven’t already heard, this year’s E3 is cancelled

Valve Sent Me a Steam Deck 2 Prototype!

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 03:47:13 +0000

LGC readers! Just a heads-up. I’ve changed my mind about my website. From now on, I’ll only be talking about Super Smash Bros. Melee. I’m gonna teach you the meanest Captain Falcon there ever was, and there ever will be, regardless of whether you played Melee or not. Your knee reflexes are going to be so strong, the next time your doctor knocks on them, you’ll blast him outside of the building.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

But, before I get into that, there’s some important info I’d like to share. Something that surprised me, was Lawrence Yang from Valve actually got a hold of me and emailed me:

Hey Mark! Sorry I’ve been ignoring your Twitter DMs. As you can probably tell, ever since we shipped the Steam Deck out over a year ago, we’ve been crazy busy. That being said, I just wanted to let you know that your website looks great. We’ve appreciated the coverage you’ve been creating for the Steam Deck so far!

As a result, Valve has been so impressed with my work ethic that they asked if I wanted to take their next-gen Steam Deck for a spin. It’s tentatively been called the “Steam Deck 2” and is very early in its prototype stages. So, despite Yang himself saying the next-gen Deck wouldn’t be out “for a few years”, you can see here, that they’re already working on the next iteration.

So, here’s what I can tell you so far regarding the Steam Deck 2:

the APU is codenamed “Little Phoenix”
the APU utilizes AMD’s Zen 4 architecture with RDNA 3 baked in, and has a boost speed of 4 GHz
the RAM has been upgraded to 6400 MT/s, providing a 16% bandwidth boost
it has 25-35% higher PPC than the original, and 10-20% higher boost clocks
the GPU is 60% faster
performance is nearly doubled now that the TDP has a max setting of 25 W
has detachable “joycons”
the white color stems from the theme of the Portal series

Battery…heh, let’s not go there. I can’t really disclose the numbers anyway.

Despite Pierre-Loup Griffais’ earlier claims that an OLED screen would be too difficult to implement, well, Valve actually put it in here. I’m telling you, the colors look freaking gorgeous.

What else is different? Well, not much to be honest with you. In fact some of the buttons got “nerfed” in the sense that they got removed. The screen and the battery were the biggest concerns for Valve. They certainly addressed the former. The latter…not so much. It was the one thing I’d hope they’d actually improve. But hey, this is a prototype; I’m sure they can figure something out. The triggers now actually have a “click” effect when they’re fully pressed down. A welcome feature, which the Steam controller had. The analog sticks also feel a bit more…natural. Like, they don’t feel as synthetic as the ones in the original do.

Can’t really comment on the software; I’m kind of under the same NDA as other journalists were when they got their review unit. All I can say is it’s constantly updating every day.

Launch date? Valve still doesn’t really have a concrete answer on that. They told me a vague “2025.” Between now and then, I imagine this prototype will evolve quite a lot. And yes, Valve assured me they will continue to send me new prototypes whenever they come up with one. Price wasn’t really set in stone either; I would imagine the base model will go for around $600.

Meantime, we’ve yet to hear from the big N regarding their plans for the next-gen Switch.

Oh, as if I wasn’t flabbergasted enough that Yang contacted me, Griffais also got in touch:

Mark, apologies for not getting back to you sooner. I just wanted to say, I am aware of the articles that you wrote even before you founded your own web site. I must admit, I am impressed! I’ve also been made aware of some other developers at Valve who might have said some negative things about you. You can ignore the part where they said, “Blog author just copy pastes the outrage bait parts without checking anything, obviously.” You do check the facts before you paste anything down, I can assure you of that. Sometimes they don’t think before they talk.

Wow. Thanks for the encouragement, Griffais!

Now, where were we…ah, Melee, right! So here’s how you can chain grab with Captain Falcon’s down throw…

Wine 8.5 Upgrades VKD3D to 1.7, Adds Dark Theme

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 02:48:34 +0000

Wine 8.5 is now available. Included in this release is the upgrade to VKD3D 1.7. A WinRT dark theme can be configured, there’s better error handling in the IDL compiler, cleanups in IME support, and 21 bug fixes.

Bug fixes are as follows (gaming fixes are in bold):

#44547 Deus Ex: invisible War v1.2 crashes when using the hotkey to quickload a saved game
#54701 Ultimate Race Pro crashes after intro movies
#47326 Fair Strike fails to map joystick due to IDirectInputDevice8 SetActionMap being a semi-stub.
#53704 Bible Black ~La Noche de Walpurgis~ won’t start
#53794 Sins of the Solar Empire Rebellion (Gog 1.975.1) crashes on unimplemented function concrt140.dll.?_CheckTaskCollection@_UnrealizedChore@details@Concurrency@@IAEXXZ
#54679 Conspiracy’s Clean Slate 64K demo crashes due to HLSL shader compilation failure
#46562 Notepad++ 7.6.3 crashes when searching twice and first time found results
#53981 Chromium broken sandbox due to GetSecurityInfo giving access denied
#54560 mscoree:mscoree - test_loadpaths_execute() sometimes gets directory creation errors
#54618 VARA FM crashes on unimplemented function pdh.dll.PdhVbGetDoubleCounterValue
#54640 Treecomp listviews and possibly other widgets are not drawn
#54675 Chocolatey OpenSSH installer fails
#54687 LibreVR Revive fails to run (CertGetNameStringW with dwType=CERT_NAME_ATTR_TYPE and pvTypePara missing additional fallbacks)
#54691 reg.exe:copy, reg.exe:delete, reg.exe:export, reg.exe:import & reg.exe:query (+32-bit reg.exe:add) - The 64-bit tests fail due to ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED errors in Wine
#54702 ldp.exe crashes when attempting to add, delete, modify, or compare an entry without a name
#54707 adsldp:ldap - test_DirectorySearch() fails on Windows and Linux
#54710 imm32:imm32 - test_ImmEscape() fails in the Korean locale on Windows
#54711 imm32:imm32 - test_ImmGetProperty() fails in the Korean locale on Windows
#54724 LDAP bind over SSL to a server and port that do not support SSL hangs forever
#54727 LDAP Explorer (LEX) throws an exception when attempting to connect over SSL
#54729 wine build fails with bison 3.0.5

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - Out Now on Steam

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 20:34:03 +0000

Well, here’s a bit of a surprise. Sega just released a free new visual-novel on Steam: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. I kid you not: this isn’t an April Fools’ Day joke.

Basically, the premise goes like this: it’s Amy’s birthday. She invites a bunch of people to a train called the Mirage Express. And it’s a murder mystery party game. Or is it an actual party? Sonic may or may not have been murdered for real…

The game has a similar feel to Phoenix Wright. It’s point-and-click, with “fully hand-drawn landscapes and characters.” You collect clues, talk to characters, and investigate who might be responsible for the murder. It’s a pretty neat concept. Though I wonder if Sega took any clues from the “There’s Something About Amy” animation.

As for Steam Deck compatibility, the game runs out of the box. There’s no 16:10 resolution; the closest you can get is 1280 x 720. You can use the touchscreen or the right analog stick to look around and get clues. I wouldn’t say it’s super compatible with the Deck as far as controls, but you can still get the job done.

Since the game is a visual novel, you can set the framerate to 15 FPS, although I’ve found this to be a little too jarring. 30 FPS is more like it. Of course, you can tweak the TDP and GPU clock speed all the way down to get as much battery life as possible.

Since the game just came out a few hours ago, I don’t really have any thoughts on the game yet, other than it’s been pretty interesting so far.

Get the game on Steam.

Proton Experimental Fixes Fall Guys, Returnal, and King of Fighters XV

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 20:30:35 +0000

Fix EOS services failing to update for Fall Guys, Returnal and other games. This may require Proton prefix to be re-created.
Fix recent experimental regression that made THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV start to a black screen.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Smash Clones Just Can't Keep Up

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 14:19:36 +0000

It’s October of 2021. Masahiro Sakurai reveals the final DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Sora. The Internet goes wild – and I mean wild. They’re screaming and crying at the same time.

Sakurai leans back in his chair, proud – and probably exhausted – at what he’s accomplished. You’d think he retire at this point, or at least take a six-month break. But no, he almost immediately starts making his own YouTube channel “as he reflects on his work in the games industry and offers insightful and easy-to-understand advice about game development.” At the time of writing this, his channel is only nine months old and he’s racked up over half-a-million subscribers.

Some people think Sakurai is going to direct another Smash game. That’s truly sad thinking – how can you possibly top off a game with some 80+ characters?

So new games come into the fray. There’s tons of them – some of which were made prior to the development of Smash Ultimate – but I just wanted to go over some of the more popular ones: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and MultiVersus. Can they match the same expectations of Smash?

TL;DR

NASB was a hot mess when it launched, and its numbers quickly fell down
MultiVersus was met with much better reception, but it still has its quirks
alternative platform fighters are great to have, but they’ve got a long way to go

The Embarassing Death of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

This was a game I was looking forward to very much. But it kind of fell flat on its face as soon as it was released.

To put it simply: the game was rushed way too quickly. I reviewed the game over on Boiling Steam a few days after it came out. Don’t get me wrong; the mechanics aren’t that bad. The wavedashing isn’t as good as in Melee, but at least it’s in there, and it’s somewhat easier to pull off. The ability to use strong attacks in the air in addition to regular aerials added a little more variety to the combat.

But there were a lot of things that the developers tried to do differently than Smash, and a lot of those changes were met with lukewarm reception. For instance, nobody’s grabs are different than the other. They all have this grab where, the opponent is held up in the air, and you can walk in any direction you want. You can jump and throw them in the air. While it might sound like an interesting concept on paper, it’s poorly executed. Grabs would have been one way to make each character show their unique personality. But no, it’s all this rinse and repeat Donkey Kong-style throwing, and as a result, makes the characters more or less bland.

Consider the fact there were only 20 characters at launch, and a $50 price tag on top of it. That’s nothing compared to the 70+ character roster Smash Ultimate had, with a lot more stages, music, and even a story mode as well, for just $10 more. Depending on how you look at it, it may have also been disappointing to know all these characters are unlocked right from the get-go. You don’t have to put forth the effort to unlock any of them. Maybe you like that idea, but I really enjoyed the “A New Challenger is Approaching!” screen from all of the Smash games, then having to defeat that character in order to unlock them. That was a nice, satisfying touch that NASB doesn’t offer.

You’re fine without voiceovers, right? Sure you are. So just launch the game without any of the characters’ grunts as they make their next move. Just these random sound effects as the characters hit each other, along with the somewhat annoying announcer that just doesn’t have the same “oompth” as Smash’s announcer. Mods made it possible to add voices in, and NASB eventually did get an official update that adds voiceovers, but it would have made it a much better experience to have those voiceovers out of the gate. I understand there was apparently some legal hassle getting the voice actors in, but I would have been willing to wait six months or however long it took to get that in without it. And those extra six months would have afforded the developers a lot more time to flesh the game out the way they intended it, with more characters, grabs that are actually unique to each character, and probably some better mechanics.

Another example is the fact there are certain moves that just don’t exist. Characters don’t have a side tilt attack. They also don’t have a side special, a back air attack, or a forward air attack. This is too much of a “nerf” for my tastes, as far as attacking variety goes. Characters just dash; they don’t even walk. So you might as well just ditch your control stick in favor of your GameCube controller’s D-pad. The lack of being able to control whether your character crawls, walks, or runs is a bit of a let down. Strong attacks can’t even be charged.

What if you have more than one Nigel Thornberry on screen? You couldn’t even distinguish the two. Not even a darker or lighter shade is thrown on one. All of the characters shipped with just their default costume and nothing more. An update later on provided an alternate outfit, but most of them did nothing more than just add a hat. Not even a different color palette. Again, mods helped alleviate this issue, but it shouldn’t be up to the modders to fix this.

The arcade mode is a joke. It’s meant to play in a similar vein to Smash’s Classic mode. You play against a CPU, move on to the next stage, which is just a different character and a different stage. Some generic character lines show up before the battle starts; the lines aren’t specific to who you’re fighting against. No special circumstances apply. No bosses. Then unlock some profile icons specific to the character you used. I think it would have been fine if they just ditched the arcade mode entirely.

The netcode? Supposedly it’s using rollback, but it’s not the best. The Switch version didn’t even use rollback for doubles, for whatever reason.

There’s plenty of other issues I could go on about, including the mediocre soundtrack. But, putting that aside for a minute, look at the result it caused. According to Steam Charts, only four people are playing the game right now. In October 2021, the game had nearly 1.5k players on average, with a peak of 9,120. That number quickly fell down just a month later, with an average of 137 players. And that number just kept going down with just about every month that followed.

It’s sad, really. If you put aside all of the flaws, gameplay-wise the game wasn’t that bad. There were supposedly plans for crossplay, due sometime in the first quarter of 2022, but that never happened. It would have been nice to have; it probably would have kept the game alive just a little bit longer.

See, Smash Ultimate, despite it coming out late 2018, and having the final DLC released in the same day NASB came out, it still retains relevance in the Smash community today. People still play it despite the fact it hasn’t gotten an update since December 2021. They can still find someone to play online with, still be able to find a doubles match without any issue. That’s because it’s a game that wasn’t rushed, and it has aged well. If you even do manage to find someone online to play with in NASB today, well, prepare to get your tuckus whooped, as it seems only the veterans are lingering around.

There have been rumors of a sequel. If it actually does happen, I’d like to see the following improvements:

above everything else, please don’t rush it. Take as much time as needed
have more characters, and make the user put forth the effort to unlock some of them
add in the missing movesets: the side tilt, F-air, B-air, make grabs unique to each character, add walking in addition to dashing
make the “arcade mode” much more fleshed out, with bosses, unique character stats, etc.
have voiceovers baked in right from the get-go
each character should have at least four different costumes to choose from, and more than just adding a hat on top
better netcode
crossplay would be nice, but isn’t strictly necessary

MultiVersus Goes Bye-Bye

Ah, MultiVersus is nice. To me, it’s a far superior game than NASB. I think it resolved a lot of the issues the former had. Crossplay is available right from the get-go. Voiceovers are in. An interesting character roster from the likes of Batman, Harley Quinn, Bugs Bunny, Finn, what have you. It’s free-to-play. Netcode that doesn’t actually suck. It even works on Steam Deck with the EAC that it uses. That in of itself was kind of a shocker to me. And the game doesn’t scream “rushed” to me.

I’ve invested a little over eight hours into it, and, well, I found the gameplay kind of addicting. It’s really fun to play. You should give it a shot if you haven’t. The mechanics feel very smooth, the character voice lines can be pretty hilarious, the announcer doesn’t sound annoying. And keep in mind the game is just in beta phase.

And yet, MultiVersus doesn’t come without it’s flaws. Of course, with it being free-to-play, the developers have to make money off of you somehow. So they add a battle pass, which doesn’t even add in-game currency – gleamium. The nerf to players levelling up also caused frustration. Characters getting buffed or nerfed usually leads to mixed reception, though the only thing I can comment about that is “you can’t please everyone.”

There’s also a lot of grinding involved. When you first start off, you only have access to a small handful of characters. You can unlock more, provided that you have enough of the in-game currency, but boy, be prepared to invest some heavy time winning matches in order to get enough. Either that, or you’re going to have to put a hole in your real-life wallet if you want to unlock them faster.

To add to this, the character roster gets randomized with each new season. So, Shaggy may be playable one season, then you’ll have to unlock him the next, forcing you to play a different character in the meantime.

Like, zoinks.

To top it off, just a few days ago, Player Next Games made an announcement. The game will be shut down for at least six months, starting June 25th:

Open Beta will close on June 25 as we prepare for full launch in early 2024. MultiVersus will be back better than ever with new content, features, modes & more when we return.

The purpose of this, according to game director Tony Huynh, is to “have a clearer view of what we need to focus on, specifically the content cadence of new characters, maps, and modes, to give you more ways to enjoy the game, along with updated netcode and more matchmaking improvements.”

So the game will go offline beginning June 25th. You’ll still have access to the training mode and whatnot, but online multiplayer won’t be available. Any in-game purchases you made will carry over into the “full launch.”

Whether you see that as a good thing or not is up to you. I personally think it’s a good decision, given that the playerbase, much like NASB, has been declining since the open beta launch in July 2022. It went from an average of nearly 67k players, with a peak of 153k, to just 507 on average in the last 30 days, with a peak of 1,013. Still far better numbers than NASB ever had, yet the decline indicates that people are either getting tired of the grinding, they didn’t like a certain character getting nerfed, or maybe they just decided to move on.

I’m hoping the “full launch” early next year will remove the battle pass, make the game less grind-y, maybe even make it a paid game so some of these obstacles can be removed. Huynh did mention there will be a “reworking of the progression system based on your feedback,” so, maybe it won’t take as much effort to level up. We’ll just have to wait and see I guess.

Sakurai Knows Best

There’s a few other platform fighters I could mention. Fraymakers is an example of a more recent fighting game. That game in of itself has a whole host of flaws, but you can just read my review so I don’t have to re-hash them here.

The point I’m making, I guess, is I think some developers have underestimated Sakurai’s strength when it comes to making games. To meet his quality of standards would probably require working overtime, getting three hours of sleep at the office, right under your desk, and having a team of some 300-odd people working right alongside you, making sure the graphics look alright, the animations are superb, and overall just a fun game to play. And having a budget of at least one million dollars. Of course, no one other than Nintendo could assemble a team that size or have that sort of budget. Heck, even though Melee had a rushed 13-month development cycle, to this day it remains a, well, smash hit.

I understand the term “Smash clone” is a little on the extreme side. None of these platform fighters that are coming out are trying to be an exact 1:1 copy of Smash. They each try to offer a little of their own “spice” or “flair” to make it more unique. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But in the 18 months or so since Smash Ultimate has ended development – and what is more than likely the last Smash game – I’ve seen these platform fighters crop up, and if they’re trying to meet or exceed the expectations of Smash fans, well, they’ve got a lot coming for them. More than they can probably handle.

That being said, I certainly welcome these new platform fighters. To have one available on a platform outside of Nintendo’s hardware in of itself is a big plus in my book. Some of them are really fun. But, as I said, I’ve yet to see one become the de-facto alternative to Melee or Smash Ultimate. Will it ever happen? Maybe. I’d like to keep my hopes up. Maybe when MultiVersus goes into “full launch” next year, that will be the closest thing.

You Can Play Half-Life: Alyx on Steam Deck

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 15:37:22 +0000

Well, here’s a bit of a surprise. Modders have been able to remove the VR requirement for Half-Life: Alyx. You no longer need to buy that $1,000 Valve Index kit in order to play the game that has been rated “Overwhelmingly Positive” on Steam.

And it seems like it’s possible to get the game running pretty smoothly on Deck. YouTuber Deck Wizard goes over the process of getting it to work on Deck and shows off some gameplay footage. The process to get it to work on Deck is as follows:

After the game is installed, go to Desktop Mode and clone the HLA-NOVR-Script repo.
Copy the game folder to your game’s install directory, overwriting the existing files if prompted. (By default the install directory is ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Half-Life Alyx/)
Add the following launch options: -novr -vsync -console -vconsole -w 1280 -h 800
Change the controller layout to “Half-Life Alyx NoVR - OFFICIAL STEAM DECK LAYOUT” from the Community Layouts tab.

A couple of caveats to keep in mind, for now:

the mod uses the Half-Life 2 HUD
can only play up to chapter 7

Nice. Half-Life: Alyx is available on Steam.

Cover image credit: Deck Wizard

ChimeraOS 40 Adds Support for Super Game Boy and Atari 7800, Better Steam Deck Support

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 03:14:32 +0000

Sweet new update out for the lovely ChimeraOS distribution. Here we’ve got out-of-the-box audio support for the Steam Deck, full gamepad support for Aya Neo 2/Aya Neo Geek, the ability to use Xorg in Desktop Mode, automatic wake on USB, automatic disk mounting, and a few other changes.

Main software updates are as follows:

kernel upgraded from 6.1.11 to 6.1.21
Mesa upgraded from 22.3.4 to 23. Gamescope has supposedly been patched with ANV compatibility for Intel users
NVIDIA driver upgraded from 525.89.02 to 530.41.03

New features:

support for Super Game Boy and Atari 7800 have been added via the Chimera web app
Aya Neo 2 and Aya Neo Geek now have full gamepad support
in Desktop Mode, you can now use Xorg
GOG games can have their executable file overridden. And apparently WarCraft II works now

Fixes:

Steam Deck should now properly boot and have working audio
disks should now be automatically mounted in Desktop Mode
session changes persist after reboot
game config tweaks should now properly be applied on first boot

Other changes:

PS2 titles now use the PCSX2 core – BIOS now required
network timeouts have been reduced in the game config downloader “to avoid connection hangs in poor network conditions”
wake on USB automatically enabled when a gamepad is connected

But here’s an important tidbit: the patch notes urge the user to “upgrade to ChimeraOS 40 as soon as possible.” Previously, ChimeraOS used the syslinux bootloader. Kernel 6.2 seems to have deprecated syslinux (although, this change might not have been intentional). Therefore, in order for ChimeraOS to move to this kernel, the distro had to switch to systemd-boot. Version 40 has the migration framework in place, so if the user doesn’t upgrade to this release, their system will be borked if they try to upgrade to 41, because the migration work isn’t in place with any version prior to 40.

Also, note that with the change to systemd-boot, BIOS/legacy installs will no longer work.

See the patch notes on GitHub. And be sure to check out the review I wrote earlier this month.

Steam Deck Client Beta Prevents Install Destination Dialog From Appearing When Only Internal Storage Is Available

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 03:11:16 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed install location dialog showing when only the Steam Deck internal storage is available

Steam Deck Desktop

Fixed showing notifications in the Big Picture Mode game overlay
Fixed login refresh dialog not showing in overlay when a game is launched by a second Steam session while a game is running

Gazelle Laptop by System76 Gets 13th-Gen CPU Upgrade

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 14:46:12 +0000

The Gazelle laptop by System76 gets a new coat of paint. It sports the RTX 3050 and the i9-13900H. The 13900H has 14 cores, 20 threads, and a max clock speed of 5.4 GHz. System76 claims this newer processor performs “up to 8% faster” than the previous generation of Gazelle laptops. Up to 64 GB DDR4 RAM can be configured.

15" and 17" models are available, and the refresh rate for both is 144 Hz. Up to three external monitors can be connected. The laptop can be configured with PCIe 4 or 3 NVMe storage – up to 4 TB of each class can be equipped.

Unfortunately – but somewhat expectedly – there are no AMD options available. Doesn’t seem like DDR5 RAM can be configured either.

The new Gazelle starts at $1299 and will be available for purchase tomorrow. See more details on System76’s website.

Valve Developer Gives His Take On the So-Called 'Dangers' of Emulation

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 02:50:53 +0000

So, I happened to be scrolling through my Twitter feed just a few minutes ago, and I came across a post and a reply by Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais.

Irdeto, the company behind Denuvo, recently Tweeted this:

What dangers game emulation brings to the gaming industry, how can you, a developer, be impacted, and how can you prevent it from negatively affecting your business? Download our free e-book.

I’m not even going to link to the download of the e-book.

You should see some of the responses to the Tweet. They’re pretty hilarious:

What actually surprised me was a response came from Griffais as well:

How do you dislike a Tweet again?

A few minutes later he clarifies:

Not that I condone game piracy through emulation, but this is a very short-sighted view. How do you make sure a game someone bought will work 20 years from now? How would Apple and Microsoft have compelling ARM offerings without being able to take your content with you?

So, if you wanted to know whether Valve is a bit pissed about Denuvo, well, now you’ve got your answer.

And Denuvo is just becoming increasingly a nuisance. Back in the summer Irdeto said they’d be Denuvo’ing DLC. Not long after that they supposedly added anti-piracy measures to emulated Nintendo Switch titles, although to be honest, I have yet to see any Switch game take any sort of anti-piracy measure with this (cough the probable exception would be Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom).

If you want to reply to the original Tweet, be my guest. I’d love to see more hate thrown towards Irdeto.

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Steam Deck Client Beta Removes Modal Dialog when Uninstalling Games, Gyro As Joystick Can Now Output to Left Joystick

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 03:26:12 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Uninstalling a game no longer displays a modal dialog
Apply text filtering preferences in Guides in the Overlay
Removed soundtracks from All Collections since it has its own tab
Fixed issue where a game’s specific uninstall UI was not visible
Fixed an issue where two settings pages could be visible at once
Fixed overflowing friends list when sharing a screenshot
Fixed some styling issues in the Quick Access Menu Friends List

Desktop Mode

Display an error if the user is trying to log in anonymously in the client. This mode is only supported for steamcmd.
Fixed “Manage Storage” button opening the storage settings page
Fix soundtrack cover art not appearing in content management panel
Fixed popup menus opening at the wrong DPI in multi-monitor mixed-DPI configurations.

Steam Input

Increase responsiveness of the “Joystick Deadzone” visualization
Gyro As Joystick can now optionally output to Left Joystick
Fixed Gyro’s Left/Right Stick Deflection Modifier not working
Fixed Modeshift bindings not being removable when viewing the command on the input

Beautify Your Steam Deck Library with SteamGridDB

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 13:46:30 +0000

The Steam Deck has proven to be one of the most versatile options out there when it comes to portable PC gaming. It’s not just for games on Steam, it’s also for games on the Epic Games Store and other store fronts. It’s also proven to be one of the most popular devices out there when it comes to emulation.

One thing might be missing though: artwork for your favorite non-Steam games. Generally when you add a non-Steam game with the Steam client, there’s no artwork associated with it. It’s just this dull, gray icon that just sits in your library.

Well, we can fix this with the SteamGridDB plugin. While SteamGridDB has infamously been attacked by the Big N with frequent DMCAs, this plugin is otherwise a fantastic addition to your Steam Deck to add missing artwork for your games. Oh, and don’t worry – artwork for Nintendo games is still available to download.

Install Decky-Loader if you haven’t already. From there, go to Game Mode and access the QAM. Navigate to the plugin icon, and go to the shopping icon on the top right. Install SteamGridDB from there.

From there it’s as simple as selecting the game in your library, pressing Start, and selecting “Change artwork…” from the context menu. If the option doesn’t appear, you may need to exit the menu and press Start again to see it.

I’ll take Slippi as an example, an AppImage that I added to my library as a non-Steam game. By default, it looks like this:

Pretty boring, right? Let’s fix this.

Select the application from your library and press Start. Select “Change artwork…”

From here you can customize the capsule, wide capsule, hero, logo, and icon. Here’s what each one does:

Capsule - the icon you see in your Steam library
Wide capsule - the icon you see on the Home screen
Hero - the thumbnail in the background after selecting the game from your library
Logo - the icon that appears on the lower-left of the screen in the game preview
Icon - the icon that appears to the left of the game name when the Steam overlay is brought up. Note that applying this may require a restart

There’s a slider on the top of each tab – you can adjust this to modify the size of the icons. The lower the slider, the more icons per row there will be.

You can select “Filter” to open up a context menu. Here you can change the game name to find artwork for something else, select the dimensions that you want, style type, file type, etc. You can even search for animated icons by toggling this on, provided that they are available for the game you’re seeking artwork for. However, I don’t recommend applying animated icons; I’ve found that they can lag the Steam library navigation pretty badly.

With the “Slippi” filter active, I don’t have a lot of choices here. So, if I wanted to expand the number of icons available, I can change the filter and have SteamGridDB search for “Super Smash Bros. Melee” instead.

To apply an icon, select it, then press A to download. It’s that simple.

Ah, much better.

The SteamGridDB page will also allow you to manage these assets. You can delete them, browse for local files, or render them invisible. If you want to apply new artwork, simply download it and it will overwrite the existing one.

Note that you can also customize the artwork for games that were added with Steam ROM Manager. Sometimes, it downloads the wrong artwork – you can fix this with SteamGridDB.

Also, Steam games themselves can have their artwork customized, if you so choose. So here’s Sonic Frontiers by default:

And here it is customized, applying the same principles as non-Steam games:

As you can see, the artwork customization is pretty endless. SteamGridDB is definitely a useful plugin to have!

Weekly News Recap (Solus End-of-Life, Framework Announces AMD Laptop, CS 2 Is Real)

Sun, 26 Mar 2023 21:31:01 +0000

Steam Deck

Decky Recorder adds a replay mode, recordings “are now done with the proper muxer”

Hardware

Framework announces laptops with 13th-gen Intel processors and introduces an AMD varient for the first time. Also makes a 16" version with an expansion slot for a GPU

Software Updates

NVK making further progress
GE-Proton 7-53 adds fixes for Star Citizen and Diablo IV
Cemu now available as a Flatpak
NVIDIA driver 530.41.03 adds…stuff and bug fixes
GNOME 44 is the release where the devs finally listened to community feedback

Other

Rare is an alternative for Heroic Games Laucher without the use of Electron
Sonic Frontiers gets a new update with a photo mode and several other goodies
I did a retrospective of Majora’s Mask
Solus seems to be a dead project
Intel co-founder Gordon Moore passes away at 94
I guess Counter-Strike 2 actually is a thing
Atari to acquire Night Dive Studios
AMD introduces FSR 3

Cover image credit: Intel

Majora's Mask: Dark, Yet Gratifying

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 15:14:03 +0000

Well, don’t expect this to be a super long article. But I wanted to talk about the game that some have viewed as the best Zelda game of all time: Majora’s Mask. Along with Twilight Princess, it’s certainly one of the scariest, most creepy game in the series. In fact, one person – whose name I can’t recall off the top of my head – mentioned that Twilight Princess tries to be scary, while Majora’s Mask is scary. I agree with that sentiment.

Despite the dark lore surrounding the N64 title, it has spawned countless – and I mean countless – creepypastas, fanfics, and YouTubers dedicated to just theorizing the lore behind some of the characters, dungeons, and every other nook and cranny behind the game. I’m sure you’re aware of the infamous Ben Drowned creepypasta. Or the “Terrible Fate” animation. Majora’s Mask has generated what is probably the biggest cult following behind any Zelda game. Maybe behind any video game.

I’m not here to offer any theories behind the lore. I would have to make an entirely separate article for that. It’s not my favorite game of all time, but I’d argue it’s in my top 5.

Crunch

Imagine being tasked with developing a game in just one year and a few months. Now, fortunately Eiji Aonuma could largely borrow many of the existing assets from the previous game in the series, Ocarina of Time, with the engine probably being the most outstanding example. That, along with many of the same character designs. Still, I just can’t picture myself with that crunch, which probably lasted the entire development cycle. By the time the game released in October 2000 in North America, the Nintendo 64 was already on its last leg as far as maintaining any sort of relevance to the gaming community, which would be succeeded by the GameCube just a year later.

With that sort of crunch, it’s no wonder why the game has such a dark premise. I’ve seen and read in countless interviews with the developers that a lot of the character interactions in the game – what they say largely reflects on the pressure the team felt as they were trying to meet their deadline. And yet, the game, to this day, has become a massive hit. It was the fourth best-selling game in the US in 2000; they sold just a little north of one million copies. It was also met with rave reviews. IGN scored it 9.9 out of 10. Metacritic score is 95.

What I Liked

I welcomed the game’s darker tone. I also like the fact they bumped the difficulty up from Ocarina of Time. And they managed to make better use of the game’s graphical potential with the use of the N64 expansion pack – this would allow the team to use slightly better graphics, render more characters on screen at a time, and increase the drawing distance.

I remember playing Majora’s Mask as a kid with the bonus collector’s disc that came with the GameCube. I don’t ever recall playing it on the original N64 hardware. I have to admit, being eight or nine at the time, there were some moments in the game where I was genuinely creeped out. I certainly noticed the darker tone the game offered in contrast to its predecessors. I also noticed the fairy – Tatl – being quite blunt with Link, telling him, “Don’t just stand there! Get your ocarina out!” At least, the fairy wasn’t anywhere near as obnoxious as Navi. As I’ve gotten older, however, I’m starting to appreciate the darker story. In effect, it sheds some light on what the atmosphere is like when you’re working on a game, and the struggles that you have trying to stay within schedule. And trying to resist the urge of strangling your co-workers because you’re tired and there’s a heated dispute about what should get added to the game and what shouldn’t.

24 masks, four dungeons. Permanent upgrades to sword, shield, etc. Yup, masks obviously played a huge role in this game. Even though the team had to recycle Gorons, Dekus, and Zoras, I found it quite fascinating being able to assume the role of one of these creatures. Punch like a badass as the Goron, roll around at blistering speeds, become immune to lava. Almost didn’t even need Epona for that. Being able to easily traverse underwater as a Zora, and use his fins like a boomerang. Reach higher places that Link otherwise couldn’t. Deku scrub – yeah, it was largely disadvantageous using him. But each role is crucial in order to proceed in the game.

What I like about Majora’s Mask is it takes a twist on the typical Zelda game. Instead of collecting three pieces of the Triforce, getting the Master sword, then defeating Ganondorf, this game takes a whole different spin. There’s no Triforce. No Master sword. No Ganondorf. Your enemy is the Imp, and the moon that’s going to crash the world of Termina in just three days. Zelda herself doesn’t even play that big of a role in the game – you see her for a brief few minutes towards the beginning of the game, and it’s just a flashback. She teaches Link the Song of Time, and that’s pretty much it. Even though it was made to be the direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, I feel like Majora’s Mask is a spinoff. Almost as if the game were a complete side quest. But I see that as a good thing – it’s nice to take a break from the traditional formula.

The music. Oh, my freaking Lord. That soundtrack man. Koji Kondo at his best. I’m literally listening to the Clock Tower music as I type this. Song of Healing. That song literally made me learn the piano – I can play it with one hand. It’s one of the most emotionally-driven songs I’ve ever heard. Sadly, because of the N64’s hardware limitations, the track is fairly short at just a minute-and-a-half. But countless fan covers have extended this. The Stone Tower temple music is also very noteworthy. This too is another segment that I could dedicate an entire article to.

Did you know the game was originally going to be a seven-day cycle? The Obsessive Gamer goes over an hour’s worth of cut content. Additionally, you might like the “Every Copy of Majora’s Mask is Personalized” video by Did You Know Gaming.

What I Didn’t

Four dungeons, to me, is a bit barebones. Ocarina of Time had nine. I get crunch was a huge factor though. And oddly enough, the game still feels like it has the same length as the latter, with the huge amount of side quests. I also ponder why each dungeon had the magic arrow effects as the prize. I don’t think anyone has made a theory on that so far. My guess is it keeps’ the three transformation masks theme in congruence? I’m not sure.

Admittedly, I did not like the three-day cycle. Not only does the in-game clock move way too fast, but most items are removed when the clock resets – all your rupees are gone, your arrows are gone, if you got the Razor sword, that’s gone. You still have that crazy guard that prevents you from entering Termina, unless you talk to him as human link, showing him that you have a sword. If you didn’t have time to defeat the boss from a particular dungeon, you’ll basically have to go through most of the dungeon again if you don’t finish it within the three-day period. A rinse and repeat cycle that I did not enjoy. Although, I guess the benefit of having three days is, most of the NPCs will act differently depending on what day it is. The closer the moon gets, the more hurried they are. So it does add a little variety. Slowing time down is possible by playing the appropriate song, but this is a repetitive process.

I played a bit of the 3DS remake and, well, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed in it. Sure, the upgrade to 30 FPS was nice. But all the sounds and music are recycled – maybe that’s a good thing, especially with the music. But the sounds? I felt like they could have been improved somehow. Some mechanics, like Deku Link using his attack to quickly hop across floating leaves in the water, were just kind of ruined in a way that’s hard to explain. Nerrel does a much better job explaining it in their video “Was Majora’s Mask 3D a Bad Remake?” Aonuma did admit that “remakes kind of hurt,” so, one can only speculate what that meant as he was working on the remake. Fortunately, there is a mod available that restores some of the original game mechanics, and adds QoL improvements. I haven’t tried it out though.

Greatest Zelda Game of All Time?

I told you this article wasn’t going to be too long, so I think I’ll wrap up here. There’s just so much other stuff I could go on and on about this game – including the tragic lore behind the death of the legends who offer up their life for Link so he can assume their incarnations – but, if you’re a Majora’s Mask fan yourself, chances are I’m just regurgitating facts that you’ve heard plenty of times before.

Overall, Majora’s Mask is a fantastic game, with its dark story, challenging gameplay, and unique puzzles depending on what incarnation Link plays as. Aside from the three-day cycle, I really enjoyed everything about this game. The fact the game is still going strong over twenty years later, means this will always be one of the Zelda games to be remembered. It’s no wonder where games like Kena: Bridge of Spirits got their inspiration from.

TL;DR

The good:

deep lore, dark theme, rich colors
challenging gameplay
tons of side quests
huge cult following

The not-so-good:

only four dungeons
three-day cycle that moves too quickly, and a lot of your items are gone
3DS remake wasn’t very good, mechanics-wise

What did you think of Majora’s Mask? Did you like it?

GE-Proton7-53 Adds EAC Fix for Star Citizen, Diablo IV Fix

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 13:30:06 +0000

GE-Proton7-52 released yesterday. Aside from DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and Wine getting updated, two Protonfixes were added for Outlaws + A Handful of Missions and Underdog Detective. The “proper fix from Proton upstream” for Diablo IV has been added, and the Halo Infinite patches have been updated once again.

A new release followed shortly thereafter with an EAC fix for Star Citizen. This “allows Star Citizen to run without needing to change the /etc/hosts file and does not interfere with EAC for other games.” Note that you will need to do the following prior to running the game:

Set the SteamGameId=starcitizen environment variable.
Run a script that’s provided in the patch notes to remove existing EAC files.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Cloud Imperium Games

Framework Reveals 13th-Gen Intel and Ryzen 7040 Series Laptops

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 17:34:22 +0000

Framework Laptop 13

The modular laptop by Framework gets an upgrade for 2023. The Framework Laptop 13 now comes with a 13th-Gen Intel processor (i5-1340P, i7-1360P, and i7-1370P). Additionally, for the first time, Framework adds an AMD varient of their laptop. It will sport the Ryzen 7040 series APU (Ryzen 5 or 7) and will come with upgraded RAM – DDR5 over DDR4 with the Intel laptops. Definitely a big plus in my book that they’re now supporting AMD.

The 2023 laptops also come with “refinements,” including a “higher capacity battery, matte display, louder speakers, and more rigid hinges.” The battery is now 61 Wh and “achieves 11% greater capacity” than previous generations. The matte top layer “lets you work better in a wide range of lighting conditions.”

First shipments are in May. Pre-built laptops start at $1049, DIY editions are $849. DIY versions also now allow you to choose bezel color and keyboard. Upgraded modules are compatible with existing Framework laptops.

According to their press kit, Fedora 38 and Ubuntu 22.04 “will work fantastically out of the box” for both the Intel and AMD laptops. Manjaro XFCE 22 and Linux Mint 21.1 are reported as “working great.”

Cooler Master Mainboard Case

The Cooler Master mainboard case is a “small form factor case that can turn a Framework laptop mainboard into a minimal PC.” It includes a stand and VESA mount. Available in the Spring for $40.

Framework Laptop 16

The Framework Laptop 16 carries much of the same blood as the 13-series laptops, including modularity. Except this time, the screen is 16" and adds two new module systems: input deck and graphics.

Basically, the input customization allows you to reconfigure the keyboard, with up to three sizes – small, medium, and large. Small is your basic meat and potatoes, medium adds a numpad, secondary display, and macro pads. Large modules will have “both regular backlit keyboards in a range of languages and an RBG backlit version.”

The expansion bay system will allow the user to add an external GPU. Not only this, but other modules besides GPUs can be used, including a “dual M.2 SSD card.”

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Reservations will be available in the Spring. Price hasn’t been disclosed yet.

New Countries for Shipping Available

Pre-orders for the Framework Laptop 13 are available now in the following countries:

US
Canada
UK
Germany
France
Netherlands
Austria
Ireland
Australia

More countries will be available “later this year”:

Belgium
Italy
Spain
Taiwan

Some pretty exciting announcements for this year! Maybe I can get my hands on a review sample – we’ll see. In the meantime, you can check the official website for more details.

All images/videos used in this post are credit of Framework.

Sonic Frontiers Update Adds Photo Mode, Juke Box, and Battle Rush Mode

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 16:02:45 +0000

New update is out for Sonic Frontiers. It adds:

photo mode
juke box – play any of the 53 songs available in the game after collecting the music notes
Cyber Space challenge mode – time-attack against seven of the Cyber Space levels
battle rush – “several rounds against increasingly tough enemies, guardians, and Titans”

The update also adds some much-needed quality-of-life improvements:

power boost/starfall slot machine can now be toggled on or off
Cyber Space levels can be restarted mid-level
you can upgrade Sonic with multiple Koco at a time, rather than just going through one upgrade at a time

There will be two more updates coming later this year, so there’s still more to look forward to! See the full patch notes on Steam.

Decky Recorder Adds Replay Mode

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 17:55:35 +0000

Decky Recorder just got better. There’s now a Replay feature that saves the last 30 seconds. According to the patch notes on GitHub, the button combo is Steam + Start. However, in the QAM it says Steam + Y. At any rate, this feature can be toggled by up to 5 minutes. So, next time you get that sick nasty combo in a fighting game, or you get that lucky headshot, now you can quickly capture that sweet, sweet moment.

The patch notes also mention “recordings are now done with the proper muxer.” Meaning the recordings don’t need to be re-muxed after. I would imagine that means recordings are always saved now, rather than dealing with the gamble of the recording not actually saving after you press Stop Recording. If so, that’s great news.

Hopefully in a future update we’ll also get an option to store the recordings to a MicroSD card.

See the patch notes on GitHub. An update should be available if you have this plugin installed.

Need An Alternative to Heroic Games Launcher? Try Rare

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 16:28:58 +0000

It seems whenever Epic Games Store launchers on Linux are mentioned, the attention always goes to Heroic Games Launcher. Not that I have anything against Heroic; I personally think it’s a great EGS launcher for Linux and Steam Deck that is constantly getting updated. But perhaps you’d like to use an alternative. That’s where Rare comes in.

To be honest, I’m not really fond of the name. When you try to look up “rare” on Google or DuckDuckGo, you’ll either come across the company behind the Banjo Kazooie series, or the temperature of what a steak is cooked. And if you try to make the search more specific, to something like “rare epic games store,” Google thinks you’re looking for an EGS client that’s, well, rare. This is probably the reason why this EGS alternative is never talked about, since nobody can get a direct search result for it.

Aside from that, Rare is pretty good. Per the description on the GitHub page, it’s a “graphical interface for Legendary, a command line alternative to Epic Games launcher, based on PyQt5.” That last part in particular is interesting. Under the “Why Rare?” section, one of the points mentioned is it “tries to be as lightweight as we can make it while still offering a feature-full experience.”

That’s one of the benefits Rare provides. See, Heroic uses Electron. And every time I hear someone use the word “Electron,” it makes everyone else cringe. Electron, in case you’re not aware, is very demanding on the user’s hardware. Developers love it, users hate it. But since 99% of the code for Rare is written in Python, it’s not using Electron at all. It is therefore much lighter on the user’s resources. Perhaps for Steam Deck users, this could translate to a longer-lasting battery with the client running in the background - but that’s just a hypothesis.

With Rare you can also link your Ubisoft Connect account – although, this hasn’t been working for me with the latest beta.

You can browse the EGS within the app, although currently I’m only able to see the free-to-claim games. None of the filters seem to work – selecting any of them on the right will just make the search results list empty. The Store tab is marked as beta though, so it’s to be expected.

Other than that Rare functions the same way as Heroic. You got your game library that you can download and manage. There’s game verification, different Proton versions to use, whether or not to use Offline mode, launch parameters, and a plethora of other options. From your game library you have the choice of seeing your games as thumbnails, or as a list with more details.

Just a few days ago the first beta for version 1.10 was released. This updates the design for the library and syncs saves in the launch helper.

Rare is available on Flathub, so Steam Deck users can rejoice that it’s available for them. As far as I know, however, there’s no integrated gamepad support within the app, so you’ll have to make use of the touchscreen for now. Rare is also available as an AppImage, .deb, Mac, and Windows.

So, it might not be as feature-full as Heroic is for the time being, but I definitely like the fact it isn’t using Electron. Integration with Ubisoft Connect – at least if it worked – is also pretty neat. Give it a try!

Open-Source NVIDIA Driver NVK Making More Progress

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 15:34:48 +0000

A few months ago, users could run The Talos Principle at 5 FPS at 1024 x 576 with NVK. Well, the open-source driver is quickly making more progress. The framerate for the same game has now more than doubled at 13 FPS. I don’t think I could adapt to that framerate; I would probably get a headache. But hey, that framerate is pretty close to the 20 FPS that Zelda: Ocarina of Time ran back in the N64 days.

Dave Airlie, developer at Red Hat, showed off the progress. In their Tweet they mention that the game is being played on a laptop and “running the NVIDIA GPU in offload mode, so 4K image is being copied to the internal Intel GPU for display.” Apparently this driver is also making use of NVIDIA’s GPU System Processor (GSP), which – according to Phoronix – is “needed for being able to deliver better open-source driver support and performance.”

I’m going to bet by the summer, this same game will be running at least 30 FPS. Great progress so far! See the post from Phoronix for more of the technical details.

Cover image credit: Dave Airlie

Weekly News Recap (DreamWorks Goes Open-Source, Steam Deck Discount, Massive Open-Source Racing Sim Update)

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 02:09:54 +0000

Steam Deck

stable update adds LAN game transfer, DualSense Edge support, improved UI responsiveness when reconnecting to Steam, and tons of other stuff
SteamOS 3.4.6 fixes focus issue with Forza Horizon 5, adds ray-tracing to DOOM Eternal
client beta adds option to play Points Shop startup movie on wake, adds lots of bug fixes
vibrantDeck is a great plugin to use to enhance the colors of the screen
GBA within a Switch emulator? It’s do-able
in case you haven’t been told for the 100th time, the Deck gets discounted, along with a Steam Spring sale
Deck comes to retail in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Later on Japan and South Korea will also be getting brick and motor store availability
kernel 6.4 will apparently get “new power features” for Van Gogh

Software Updates

Wine 8.4 gets initial Wayland work put in
Speed Dreams 2.3.0 is a massive update with new cars, HUD, and more!
GE-Proton 7-51 adds a fix for Halo Infinite and Anno 1800
Proton Experimental 3.14.2023 improves performance with BloodRayne series, adds fixes for several other titles

Other

DreamWorks’ MoonRay renderer becomes open-source

Cover image credit: DreamWorks

Wine Gets Initial Wayland Support!

Sat, 18 Mar 2023 01:12:26 +0000

Great news. A few weeks ago, a pull request was submitted for adding native Wayland support for Wine. This had initially been met with some skepticism, but parts of the driver have already been implemented with the new release of Wine 8.4. This is brought to you by Alexandros Frantzis from Collabora. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

winewayland.drv: Add initial driver stub.
winewayland.drv: Add initial unixlib stub.
winewayland.drv: Perform basic per-process Wayland initialization.
winewayland.drv: Report basic monitor information.
winewayland.drv: Report all advertised monitor modes to Wine.

Hopefully by 9.0 we’ll have full Wayland support, but this is a great start.

In addition to basic Wayland support, we’ve also got cleanups in IME support and 51 bug fixes. Fixes are as follows (gaming-related fixes are in bold):

#7585 Thief: the dark project hangs on ’esc’ keypress in game if X in 24bpp mode
#47407 Hard Truck 2: King of The Road (GOG) movies aren’t played
#49266 Amazon Games installs but won’t start (needs WindowsFormsApplicationBase startup code?)
#51848 Multiple applications have very poor performance after 4261369e5d8 (Secondhand Lands, SPORE)
#54539 Starcraft Remastered Game Initialization Failed
#52912 t2embed:t2embed fails on Windows with the UTF-8 codepage
#52948 gdi32:font - test_EnumFonts() fails on Arial Bold on Windows in Russian
#53172 advapi32:registry - test_enum_value() has a pair of rare failures in UTF-8 system locales
#53182 shell32:shelllink - A save(NULL, TRUE) fails randomly in test_load_save() on Wine
#53236 d3d9:device - test_wndproc() sometimes gets an unexpected WM_DISPLAYCHANGE in Wine
#53270 test_WSARecv() fails when using wow64 thunks [Wow64ApcRoutine() overwrites return value set by NtContinue()]
#53488 The dxgi:dxgi output is too big on debiant
#53526 kernel32:sync - test_timer_queue() occasionally fails to delete the timer on Windows 10
#53528 ntdll:info - test_query_kerndebug() fails on Windows 8 to 10 1709
#53818 foobar2000 v1.6 crashes shortly after startup on Wine 7.19 or higher
#53974 d3drm:d3drm sometimes crashes after failing to create the IDirect3DRMDevice* interface in Wine
#53975 d3drm:d3drm sometimes fails to create an immediate mode device in Wine
#54003 vbscript:run sometimes fails on Windows UTF-8 locales
#54008 d3d9:device sometimes fails to create a D3D object in Wine, crashes
#54019 The 64-bit ntdll:wow64 fails on Windows 11
#54020 The 32-bit ntdll:wow64 fails on Windows 11
#54052 winhttp:notification times out randomly in Wine
#54058 user32:input - test_ToAscii() fails in the Hindi UTF-8 locale
#54078 ntdll:pipe - test_blocking() sometimes fails in Wine when the pipe is not signaled
#54168 kernel32:console - test_wait() sometimes fails on Windows 8+
#54298 d3d12:d3d12 - test_desktop_window() fails on Windows 10 1709
#54299 d3d12:d3d12 - test_create_device() gets an unexpected 0 refcount on Windows 10 1909+
#54313 HS_hevo_gc 8.8.1.1 fails to launch
#54379 since wine 8.0 print doesn’t work any more
#54449 nethack crashes
#54491 regedit/regproc.c - export_key() is unable to return TRUE
#54495 Motorola Ready For Assistant does not start, needs ext-ms-win-networking-wlanapi-l1-1-0.dll
#54504 dbghelp:dbghelp, ntdll:wow64 & psapi:psapi_main fail on Windows 11 due to notepad.exe path remapping
#54505 psapi:psapi_main - The 64-bit test_EnumProcessModules() gets unexpected Notepad case on Windows 11
#54506 psapi:psapi_main - The 64-bit test_EnumProcessModulesEx() gets pcs-6464 and pcs-6432 failures on Windows 11
#54507 psapi:psapi_main - The 32-bit test_EnumProcessModulesEx() gets many pcs-3232 failures due to partial copy errors on Windows 11
#54509 psapi:psapi_main - The 64-bit test_EnumProcessModules() gets unexpected third module on Windows 11
#54531 jsproxy:jsproxy crashes on Windows 11
#54553 mmdevapi:propstore - The 32-bit test_setvalue_on_wow64() fails on Windows 10 2004+
#54563 The gif is displaying wrongly, with weird backgrounds of various colors
#54593 gdi32:dc - The SetDeviceGammaRamp() tests fails on Windows 10 1909
#54605 The 32-bit dbghelp:dbghelp cannot run on Windows <= 10 1607 due to IsWow64Process2() call
#54617 KakaoTalk IM text edit window leaves artifacts when the text overflows and scroll bar appears
#54621 Wine 8.3 64-bit is missing in the Debian bookworm repo
#54637 riched20:txtsrv - test_TxGetNaturalSize fails if system GUI font’s glyph widths are wider than expected by the test
#54645 TextPad 9.1 installation fails in Wine 6 from Linux Mint repo
#54649 windows.perception.stub:perception - Windows 10 1607 does not have ISpatialSurfaceObserverStatics2
#54657 kernel32:loader - test_import_resolution() gets bad tls data on Windows 7
#54663 ldp.exe crashes on unimplemented function wldap32.dll.ldap_set_dbg_flags
#54669 imm32:imm32 - ime_install() fails in some locales on Windows
#54690 ldp.exe crashes when attempting to connect to an invalid host

Patch notes can also be seen on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: SoftLan-Nsk/Fulqrum Publishing

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Option to Play Points Shop Startup Movie on Wake

Sat, 18 Mar 2023 01:06:48 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Added option to play a Points Shop startup movie on Wake

Steam Input

Fixed an issue with non-Steam game configs not loading properly
Fixed an issue where switching games in the configurator could show data for the wrong game after making an edit.

Speed Dreams 2.3.0 Adds Tire Temperature and Degradation, New Widgets for the HUD, and New Cars

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 02:58:11 +0000

If you’re into motorsports, you might like Speed Dreams. Per the description on the official website:

Speed Dreams is a Motorsport Simulator featuring high-quality 3D graphics and an accurate physics engine, all targeting maximum realism…It mainly aims to implement exciting new features, cars, tracks and AI opponents to make a more enjoyable game for the player, while constantly pushing forward visual and physics realism.

It’s also open-source under the GPLv2 license and developed in C/C++. Downloads are available for Linux, Windows, and Mac.

Just recently version 2.3.0 was released. This contains “many months of hard work” and “more than a thousand commits.” Hope the devs don’t mind if I just do a copypasta of the patch notes, but basically, this update contains new cars, a new track, tire temp and degradation, new menu sound effects, and just so many other things:

Added tire temperature and degradation in Supercars, 67GP, MPA11 and MPA12 categories, in addition to the existing MP1.
New widgets for the HUD in OSG, such as tires, forces, delta or controls, in addition to the existing ones.
New sounds in the game menus, as well as in the gear shift, tire skid or some car engines.
New options in sound menu, and In-game volume adjustment.
New interiors and animated drivers in some Supercars models, like the Boxer 96, Cavallo 360, FMC GT4, and the Kanagawa Z35 GT-S.
Now is possible to change the car setup inside the game. Also you can also choose the initial fuel and steering wheel rotation degrees displayed on the game screen.
New cars like the Mango MS7 and the Murasama 37A, both in the “1967 Grand Prix” category
New cars and robots in MPA12 category: Deckard and Spirit added to existing Murasama cars
New track based on the Melbourne circuit.
Added lots of new skins for various cars, especially in the LS-GT1 category
A huge work on trackeditor with tons of new features, corrections and optimizations
Added temperature in wheel widget in SSG graphic engine.
Lots of fixes and optimizations on the tire model. Now is more easy to get the tires on optimal temp
Lots of new robots in many categories
Better braking on shadow and dandroid robots
Better support for multi-display systems.
New Windows complete installer. All the official contents of the game in a single file.
Lots of Fixes, optimizations and of course, code cleanup

In addition, the game now has its own official website, new social media accounts, new YouTube channel, and an itch.io page.

Full patch notes can be seen here. They also have a video that goes over the changes with the new update.

Downloads for Linux are available as Flatpak, AppImage, or via PPA if you’re on an Ubuntu-based distro. Source code available on SourceForge.

Congrats to the dev team behind this massive release! I’ve never played the game before but I’m tempted to pick it up now!

Cover image credit: Speed Dreams dev team

Steam Deck Client Beta Is All About Bug Fixes

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 02:53:10 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed game beta success/failure and dropdown not updating when opting into a password-protected beta branch
Fixed a regression in ISteamHTTP talking to servers with ALPN TLS extensions but no HTTP/2 support

Steam Deck Desktop

Fixed Big Picture Mode not opening when Steam is set to launch on startup when configured as the default mode

Also, in case you missed it, yesterday’s beta update fixes 4:3 guide page layouts and the downloading of optional DLC.

Steam Deck Client Update Adds LAN Game Transfer, DualSense Edge Support, and Improves UI Responsiveness

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 03:05:40 +0000

Well, a stable update has come faster than I knew it. There’s just a ton of stuff here, so I’m only going to highlight some new features added to this update.

First thing is, it looks like you can access the Steam console by pressing the Steam button and selecting Console from the menu. This can also be accessed by enabling dev mode and going to the Developer tab in the Settings menu. Not really sure what someone would use this for – it’s not even mentioned in the patch notes – but I guess it’s something.

Second, LAN game transfers are in! According to Gardiner Bryant, this feature is useful for those who have “limited connections” but otherwise, “you might find its simpler and just about as fast to download your games right from Steam’s servers at the outset.”

Third, you can apparently get Steam runtime system info, but this hasn’t really been working for me. You can access this from the System tab in the Settings menu.

A “Soundtracks” tab was added to the library!

…but it crashes as soon as you select an album.

UI responsiveness has been improved in regards to Steam reconnecting. DualSense Edge gets support, including back button remapping. Razer Wolverine V2 gamepads are also now supported. There are just so many other fixes and changes, so I’ll just let the patch notes do the rest of the talking for me.

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Local Network Game Transfers

Added new feature that allows Steam users to copy existing Steam game installation and update files from one PC to another over a local area network, without having to download and install from a Steam content server on the internet. This helps you stay below your ISP monthly transfer limits and can speed up installs or updates.
Steam users have control over who files can be sent to: self only, friends only, or everyone. The default setting is self only.
More info about this new feature can be found here

General

Move advanced HDR options to Developer Settings
Streamable games are now included in the Ready to play game filter, though the default action is still to install them locally.
Fixed a bug preventing some Demo apps that store files under the full-game App ID from uploading to Steam Cloud from Steam Deck devices
Stop prompting users to register for Steam Deck rewards if they have chosen the Ignore Forever option
Fixed some transparency issues with the background in the in-game overlay.
Fixed issue where user could not re-enter a context submenu after backing out of it
Fixed issue where incoming chat messages would not be delivered properly while in-game
Reduced flashing in background when scrolling through games on home screen
Game invites in the Quick Access Menu will now default to opening a context menu to accept the invite rather than navigating to the chat tab and having to hit Accept there.
Added ability to retrieve Steam Runtime System Information for Linux devices
Improved UI responsiveness when reconnecting to Steam
Fixed the appearance of jumbled UI that could happen for a second or two when starting Steam
Fixed crash when in a voice chat
Fixed crash when authorizing a microtransaction purchase
Fixed the Play button stealing focus when a game is launching
Constrain the width of settings, chat, and other non-grid based views when connected to larger monitors
Fixed misalignment of loading throbber after logging in.
Fixed universal search not applying mature content filtering preferences

Steam Input

Added support for the Sony DualSense Edge controller including support for remapping of the rear buttons.
Added a loading throbber when waiting on Steam Cloud to update
Improved the latency of querying the workshop in the Configuration Browser and fix issues with configurations popping-in or opening the wrong tab because results weren’t fully received
Added a loading throbber that shows while the Configuration Browser workshop query is running
Fixed PS5 edge settings leaking into PS5 controller
Fixed Steam Link app mobile touch gyro not working
Fixed crash exiting deadzone visualization
Fixed the physical input visualization only looking at the first connected controller
Fixed rumble for Nintendo Joy-Con controllers
Added support for the Razer Wolverine V2 controllers
Added the ability to reset the device input mapping in new Big Picture
Added the ability to install and uninstall the Windows Xbox Enhanced Features driver to the new Big Picture controller settings
Updated the Windows Xbox Enhanced Features driver with the following changes:
- Added support for Xbox Series X controllers connected via the Xbox Wireless Adapter
- Fixed delay detecting hotplugged USB controllers, occasionally causing duplicate controllers in Steam
- Fixed interference with the Victrix Control Hub after the driver has been uninstalled
Fixed Logitech F310 controller input on macOS and Linux
Added mapping for DualSense Edge Wireless Controller on Linux (note that advanced feature support require Steam to be able to access the /dev/hidraw* devices)
Fixed unintended inversion of Gyroscope Roll Axis on Steam Deck
Added some optimization around DualSense adaptive trigger effects interaction with the Bluetooth stack

Desktop Mode

Added UI that temporarily replaces the What’s New section of the Library when pre-purchased games are available to pre-load or install and play
Added UI at startup for account selection
Added a sign out option to the main menu that removes credentials for the signed in account from the machine
Fixed a crash when the OS is notifying Steam that it should shutdown
Improved performance of games when using Steam Workshop APIs
Refreshed the profile games page with a new style and improved performance
Fixed crash for some uses of %command% in shortcut launch options
Fixed quotes surrounding shortcut exe and paths
Fixed Steam Library Folder dialog showing in Downloads settings
Fixed soundtrack cover art, artist, and track information not appearing in Additional Content section of app details
Fixed some actions that should have opened external applications, such as a URL in your default browser, that were instead doing nothing
Fixed a crash loading the standalone controller configurator
Fixed another issue blocking download of precached shaders

Also, if you happen to be on the Beta or Preview branch, there’s an update for you. Guide page layout in overlay with 4:3 aspect ratio games, in addition to “downloading optional DLC,” has been fixed.

GE-Proton7-51 Adds Fix for Halo Infinite and Anno 1800 Multiplayer

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 02:14:18 +0000

Halo Infinite has been playable way back to GE-Proton7-22 in June. Evidently there must have been a regression – the game now uses “even more esoteric D3D12 features” according to HansKristian, who works on VKD3D-Proton. A patch has been submitted, and while it hasn’t been merged with VKD3D-Proton yet, GE-Proton7-51 has already added it. So, I guess you can keep playing Halo Infinite now.

A fix was also added for Anno 1800’s multiplayer mode. A Protonfix for Tokyo Necro was added.

A few Protonfixes have been removed: Resident Evil 0, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Pentiment.

Wine, DXVK, and VKD3D-Proton have all been updated to “git” or “bleeding-edge.” Finally, a typo for The Witcher 2’s Protonfix was fixed.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Forget about Steam Deck OLED; Use VibrantDeck Instead

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:51:01 +0000

EDIT (11-30-2023): this plugin has basically become outdated since SteamOS 3.5.5. Controlling the saturation is now possible directly through Steam itself.

So Pierre-Loup Griffais – according to PCGamer – says Valve has thought about making an OLED model of the Deck, but the idea of putting one in is a bit more cumbersome than it sounds.

Well, even if Valve did make one eventually, there’s a fast, easy, and inexpensive solution in the meantime. vibrantDeck. This is a Steam Deck plugin that allows the user to adjust screen saturation. The term that you’ll hear a lot of people use is “pop” – this is the case when it comes to the color quality on the screen when this plugin is enabled. The plugin is open-source and very easy to install and use.

I would assume most Deck users at this point have Decky Loader installed. If that’s not the case, go to Desktop Mode on Deck, direct your web browser to the Decky Loader GitHub page, and click the Download button. After that’s installed you can use the little shopping icon on the top-right of the QAM in Game Mode and install vibrantDeck from there.

At that point, go to vibrantDeck from the QAM, and set the toggle to “Enable color settings”. Colors on the screen should already look much better. By default the saturation quality is set to 200. Often this is a good number to start with, but some games might benefit even further by setting it to 300. 400 is the max – I don’t recommend that; the screen is way too saturated at that point. You can adjust the slider to your liking.

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In addition to saturation quality, you can further tweak the colors by adjusting the RGB gamma. Each slider is set to 100 by default. I don’t really recommend adjusting these sliders, unless you want a more specific shade of color applied to the screen. You can have even more fine-tuned tweaking by enabling the Linear Gamma Gain toggle.

A great thing is, like Steam’s performance settings, you can set the saturation levels on a per-game basis. So, if you want a saturation level of 100 for one game, and 300 for another, go for it. If you want one game to look more green than the other, the power is in your fingertips.

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds a Fix for LAN Transfer, Optimization for DualSense Adaptive Trigger Effects

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 03:06:19 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed issues where some icons were drawn at the wrong size (e.g. the group chat channel selector)
Fixed universal search hiding keyboard when first opening
Fixed intermittent focus issue when exiting games

LAN Peer Downloads

Fixed an issue where IP and hostname were cached, but were not invalidated when a client reconnects

Steam Input

Added some optimization around DualSense adaptive trigger effects interaction with the Bluetooth stack

Proton Experimental Improves Performance with BloodRayne Series, Fixes Memory Leak with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 01:48:39 +0000

Improve performance and stability in BloodRayne: Terminal Cut & BloodRayne 2: Terminal Cut.
Fix Richman: Clasic not starting in OpenGL mode.
Fix memory leak while playing in-game videos in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
Fix Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty locking up after playing many videos.
Fix Prototype hanging randomly.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Radical Entertainment/Activision

SteamOS 3.4.6 Fixes Focus Issue, Adds Ray-Tracing

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 01:30:20 +0000

SteamOS 3.4.6 has shipped to stable users. As a reminder, SteamOS (or as Valve now calls it, “Steam Deck OS”) 3.4.6 upgraded the Mesa driver to version 23.1. This upgrade should fix “graphical corruption issues” with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, although interestingly enough, the “several upcoming titles” tidbit from the beta patch notes has been omitted with this update. If you’re a fan of DOOM Eternal, well, welcome to the next-gen upgrade with ray-tracing! Seems to be working quite well.

In addition, Resident Evil 4 should no longer have any graphical corruption issues. Finally, Mesa 23.1 should provide reduced shader cache time – something that we all desperately needed.

One last thing – Forza Horizon 5 has a focus issue fixed.

See the patch notes on Steam.

Emulator Within an Emulator on Deck? Sure, Why Not

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 19:37:04 +0000

So, I’m sure you’re aware of Nintendo’s Switch Online subscription service. Y’know, where they drip-feed classic titles that require an active, yearly subscription, rather than buying individual classics and being able to own them.

At any rate, I’d much rather play retro titles on Deck than my Switch. And thankfully that’s possible by dumping NSO - [insert game system name here] from a jailbroken Switch, and emulating it via Ryujinx or Yuzu. Funny thing is, NSO uses its own emulator for playing the classics, so on Deck you’re using an emulator inside an emulator.

Metroid Fusion recently released for the GBA edition of NSO, so I gave it a go. I haven’t been messing around with the power settings too much, other than disabling SMT, but as expected, performance has been pretty solid so far. Doesn’t seem like there’s any options to enable widescreen with GBA emulation. But maybe there’s a mod for that somewhere.

And before anyone starts questioning the legality of this, I do have an active NSO + Expansion Pack that’s set to renew in October. I will gladly provide screenshots with proof of purchase if there’s any doubts.

Weekly News Recap (LGC One-Year Anniversary, CS:GO Source 2, Steam Deck 2 Details)

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 19:38:47 +0000

Steam Deck

Deck 2: not for “a few years”
client beta honors the “Ignore Forever” option for rewards, fixes blurred screen after dismissing the “What’s New” post
Chips and Cheese goes over the nitty gritty regarding the Van Gogh APU

Software Updates

GE-Proton 7-50 fixes black window for Metal Slug, updates the usual set of tools
Box86/64 gets support for Steam BPM and Heroic Games Launcher

Other

LGC has been around for a year. Here’s an overview of the bad and the good
I interviewed Hi-Tech Lo-Life. Definitely worth giving a sub on his YT channel!
Counter-Strike 2 isn’t real
kernel 6.3 to get better X-Input support for the 8BitDo Pro 2
rumble patch for Xbox pads has been submitted once more and should hopefully make it into 6.4

Cover image credit: Chips and Cheese

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Several Issues, Honors the 'Ignore Forever' Option

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 04:53:07 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed some issues where a game window was not focused properly after launching it on Windows 10 or 11.
Fixed an issue where Steam was not focused properly after exiting a game
Fixed misalignment of loading throbber after logging in.
Fixed universal search not applying mature content filtering preferences
Stop prompting users to register for Steam Deck rewards if they have chosen the Ignore Forever option
Fixed some transparency issues with the background in the in-game overlay.

Desktop Mode

Fixed a crash loading the standalone controller configurator

An Interview with Hi-Tech Lo-Life, Anime Lover and Steam Deck YouTuber

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 15:10:13 +0000

Hi-Tech Lo-Life. I’ve had the pleasure of kicking his arse in Melee (nah, just kidding). But the topics that he covers on his YouTube channel are great. Originally talking about and reviewing mechanical keyboards, he’s now moved on to mostly Steam Deck-related topics. He’s reviewed multiple accessories, looked back on the Deck one year later – referring to it as “a year of innovation” – and covered various plugins, such as SteamGridDB. Being the anime lover that he is, he also has covered how to “anime-ify” your Deck and the games that he recommends.

Personally I think he deserves way more than the 8k subs he has on his channel. So I wanted to give him the spotlight, talk a little bit about the history of his channel, why you need to subscribe to him, and – most importantly – why he’s so much into anime and mecha.

TL;DR

mostly talks about the Deck on his YT channel, but covers other topics as well, including “general PC gaming topics” and “reviews for specific games”
the Deck: “it’s genuinely my favorite way to game”
Steam Deck alternatives are viable in terms of smaller footprint and performance, but price is a big hurdle
some familiarity with Linux; used Manjaro in college. Would actually switch over to Linux if Destiny 2 worked on said OS
recommended Deck accessories: IEMs, a GaN charger, and a dock
favorite Deck accessory: the Tomtoc carrying case
favorite type of games: challenging games, arcade-styled games, and RPGs
favorite anime: Shōnen Jump, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Shin Sekai Yori, and a few others
things to look forward to: more Deck content, game reviews, Vtubing/streaming, revival of his podcast (potentially)

Explain who you are and what you do.

Hello, I’m Hi-Tech Lo-Life, and I’m a Tech & Gaming Content Creator! I cover many things gaming-related and while I may be a Steam Deck creator, I’m not EXCLUSIVELY a Steam Deck channel the way Fan the Deck is.

My YouTube account has existed since 2010, but I’ve only started making and uploading “Hi-Tech Lo-Life” videos in around 2019. I am primarily a content creator on YouTube. I do have a blog but more often than not, they’re just my YouTube videos adapted to text.

For my day job I’ve got plenty of experience working with hospitals and at the height of COVID, spent most of my time maintenancing medical devices, like IV pumps and whatnot.

What inspired the name “Hi-Tech Lo-Life”?

The name came as a sort of funny thought. I thought, “I’m a high tech low life” and the name stuck.

Outside of the Steam Deck, what else do you typically talk about on your channel?

I talk a lot about general PC gaming topics as well as reviews for specific games. Long ago before the Deck was released, I used to do mechanical keyboard reviews as well as a podcast! Thinking of potentially starting it back up!

The channel did start as a keyboard channel, more specifically, mechanical keyboards, key switches, & keycaps. Heck, I even assembled a fully custom keyboard in a video! I also talked about random tech stuff but I didn’t really have a focus nor a consistent release schedule until the Deck was announced.

As for the podcast, we talked about tech stuff. The podcast ALSO predated the Steam Deck so it was sort of aimless, but we did talk about important issues in tech (such as the Epic vs. Apple lawsuit & Right to Repair) and we also talked about multimedia such as movies, games, anime.

How long have you owned a Steam Deck, and what are your thoughts on it?

Reserved as soon as I could! I reserved the 256GB version of the Deck because I knew 64GB version wasn’t enough, but I wasn’t sure if I needed 512GB. And this was before Valve made it known that the SSD can be swapped and at that point I was already pretty deep in my reservation not willing to give up my spot.

My unit arrived in Q2, but I had a friend who got an earlier order than mine, so I got her order and she got mine!

Honestly I do most of my gaming on Deck these days, outside of specific titles that either don’t work on Deck or are exclusives on other consoles! It’s genuinely my favorite way to game.

PC gaming has always been my preferred way of playing games due to a number of factors, but more importantly due to the open-ness of the platform. Anyone can make anything for the PC and distribute it however they’d like, even outside of Steam. On a console you’d never get the luxury of getting games from a different storefront or just downloading a random executable.

But the main issue with PC gaming is that I spend many of my hours at a PC as is for my day job and that’s about the last thing I want to do for an activity that’s supposed to be relaxing. The Steam Deck gives me all of that and the flexibility of going anywhere with it!

What do you think of the so-called “competition,” that is, Aya Neo, OneXPlayer, etc.? Do you think these portable devices will ever become a viable alternative to the Deck?

I do think they can be viable alternatives to the Deck. Many of these offer similar performance at a smaller physical footprint, and some offer even MORE portable performance. The big issue though is again, price.

Price is a major consideration for a product like this and the Steam Deck throws the price to performance argument out of the window. There’s no real competition in the price to performance ratio, only alternatives if you, for whatever reason, hate Valve.

Name three Steam Deck accessories a Deck owner must have and why.

Here are some non-MicroSD card accessories I like:

Any traveling Steam Deck user needs some sort of audio gear, especially if you plan traveling via bus, train, or plane. My preferred accessories are some good quality IEMs. There’s a pair called the Moondrop Aria, and they’re amazing for the price.
A more compact charger. Plenty of GaN chargers – chargers that use Gallium Nitride instead of the typical silicon – that can charge at 45W and are much smaller than the Deck charger. These don’t function any differently from your standard charger, but they are far more efficient, allowing for smaller wall warts at a similar power rating.
Third is probably a dock of some sort. Docks are a must have for anyone looking to play on a TV or if you want to capture footage in tandem with a capture card. The Valve dock is always a safe bet and it even comes with an extra charger.

Image credit: Moondrop

[For those who aren’t aware,] IEMs stand for In Ear Monitors, and while one may think these are merely earbuds, they are so much more than that. Typical earbuds rest on the outer ear whereas IEMs go inside your ear canal, ensuring a tighter seal and more often than not, they beat the snot out of earbuds in a pure price to performance ratio.

One other feature I like about IEMs are their modularity. Most earbuds are conjoined with their wires and for most people, a damaged cable means the earbuds become useless. For most IEMs, the unit is modular and you can unplug the ear pieces from the cable and swap them out if so desired. This allows for cheaper replacements and customization if so desired.

Among the Steam Deck accessories you’ve received, what’s your favorite?

Oh gosh, I’ve checked out so many accessories it’s unreal. One that I really like is the TomToc Steam Deck case. It more resembles a satchel than a traditional Steam Deck hard case that you’re used to. It has enough space to carry multiple Deck accessories, and stylish enough to wear in public.

Outside of the Steam Deck, how familiar are you with Linux?

Pre-Steam Deck I’ve had SOME experience with Linux though mostly in a server environment with CLI and whatnot. I’ve actually had my own Proxmox hypervisor set up in my own home with multiple VMs set up for different purposes. I’ve tested Linux out for a bit as a daily driver years ago but ultimately switched back because college work isn’t too Linux-friendly.

The distro I tried out in college was Manjaro. I had a basic Dell Inspiron laptop. Core i3. I believe I was using XFCE as my desktop environment, but honestly I can’t remember. For software, of course I had LibreOffice. I didn’t really game on my Manjaro install as my time in college was before Proton existed.

Image credit: Manjaro team

I enjoyed my time with Manjaro but it wasn’t really a viable solution for me for both someone in college and a massive gamer, even most of my gaming time was with lower end (at the time) games.

As for switching to Linux now, I could with one exception, Destiny 2…And I think I would switch to endeavorOS if I were to switch now.

What are your favorite type of games?

I prefer more challenging games as they’re more stimulating and require more creative out of the box thinking to beat them. I was fortunate enough to grow up near an arcade when arcades were already out of fashion, so I have a soft spot for arcade styled games. I also quite like RPGs too.

I see you’re an anime fan. Tell us what your favorite anime games and TV shows are.

I’m a huge Shonen Jump fanboy. I love battle action manga like DBZ or One Piece and they will always hold a soft spot in my heart. I’m also a massive mecha fan and I have some gunpla in my house (I’m still a bit miffed that Bamco hasn’t made a Perfect Grade Gundam Deathscythe Hell, but one day…) and even gifted my cousin some.

I do like more dramatic animes as well, one I thought was really good was Shin Sekai Yori (From The New World).

Image credit: Arc System Works/Bandai Namco

As for games, I don’t tend to play games based on existing animes, but I am a huge fan of the Disgaea franchise and have jumped down the rabbit hole of anime dungeon crawlers.

What new videos we can look forward to?

Steam Deck content (tutorials & etc). Game reviews for sure, perhaps collaborations with other content creators, maybe even a podcast! Other non-Steam Deck related stuff, VTubing. I may even stream every now and then.

Thanks to all of you guys who believe in HTLL and who have given my stuff a watch. It means the world to me and makes it all worth it in the end. And if you’re a frequent reader of LGC, thanks for reading this and checking me out too.

You can find Hi-Tech Lo-Life at the following places:

Subscribe to his YT channel if you haven’t already!

All other images used in this interview are credit of Hi-Tech Lo-Life.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Blurred Screen After Dismissing What's New Post, Constrains Settings View When Docked in Desktop Mode

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 16:23:43 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Constrain the width of settings, chat, and other non-grid based views when on larger monitors in Desktop mode
Fixed the screen remaining blurred after a What’s New post was dismissed

Steam Input

Fixed unintended inversion of Gyroscope Roll Axist

Rumble Support for Xbox Gamepads - Patch Submitted for Review (Again)

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 14:40:40 +0000

Back in October, Google engineer Siarhei Vishniakou submitted a Linux patch that adds rumble support to the latest Xbox gamepads, since a firmware update to the controller broke this feature. Vishniakou explains what happened:

In 2021, Microsoft released a firmware update for this controller. As part of this update, the HID descriptor of the device changed. The product ID was also changed from 0x02fd to 0x0b20. On this controller, rumble was supported via hid-microsoft, which matched against the old product ID (0x02fd). As a result, the firmware update broke rumble support on this controller.

Evidently, the October patch never made it into the kernel. This patch has come back from the grave and is labeled as “v2”. Vishniakou mentions “adding [the] new product ID is sufficient” to bring the rumble back after the FW update.

So this patch will enable rumble support for the following gamepads, in Bluetooth mode and USB:

wireless Xbox One pad, model 1708, with both the old and new FW
Series X|S, model 1914
Elite Series 2, with both the old and new FW

Bastien Nocera, developer at Red Hat, reviewed the patch and commented that it “looks good” although we don’t know when it will be approved and merged into the kernel. Hopefully this patch can make it into kernel 6.4.

See the patch for more details.

Steam Deck 2: 'Wouldn't Be for a Few Years'

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 17:16:54 +0000

Yesterday Rock Paper Shotgun pulled off The Verge and did an interview with Valve’s – yup, you guessed it – Pierre-Loup Griffais and Lawrence Yang. They got together to discuss the Deck’s one-year anniversary, what their reaction was to the community’s ideas, and what the company’s future plans are.

Here’s some interesting tidbits that I wanted to highlight:

Overall Impressions and Stats

Griffais is surprised at the “variety of use cases” and comments “it’s been great to see”
Yang: “of the people who’ve purchased a Steam Deck, 42% of them end up spending the majority of their Steam gaming time on Steam Deck – preferring it over their other devices”

Plans for the Future

Valve is trying to “add functionality and update features in a way that make the Steam ecosystem better as a whole” and Yang brings up the Deck UI being the default BPM on desktop as an example
Griffais: “a significant portion of the feedback we see is in line with things that we’re already working on, or were planning to work on.” Things like HDR and ray-tracing, for example
Griffais: “we don’t have many big compatibility holes remaining” regarding anti-cheat and media codecs

Fixing Problems

“fruitful” relationships with game developers allows Valve to evaluate a game before it’s released, which can sometimes lead to “ID’ing” and fixing of technical issues. Supposedly this would otherwise “have affected native Windows and console versions,” and, of course, the Deck. A couple of examples RPS brings out is the stuttering fix for Elden Ring and the constant fixing of FFXIV’s launcher
Valve are attentive to “compatibility problems.” An example would be the SteamOS 3.4.6 update that not only enabled ray-tracing for DOOM Eternal, but fixed “graphical corruption issues” with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and “several upcoming titles”

Verified

verification program: over 10k titles have been rated. 8k have been marked as either Playable or Verified, 3k of which are the latter

The Future with Steam Deck 2 and Game Optimization

Valve doesn’t seem too worried about new games becoming increasingly demanding on hardware: Griffais says “it’ll depend on how developers approach it.” He believes the Deck has the potential to be “a solid target throughout the generation,” but comments that the game developers’ optimization work will be more difficult than “typical Deck UX tweaks”
Griffais: “there are benefits to game developers doing this [optimization] work. If high-end current-gen titles are able to scale to Deck and be a great experience, it also enables smoother performance on a wider variety of PCs, and improve the the experience for the whole playerbase”
Yang: “a true next-gen Deck with a significant bump in horsepower wouldn’t be for a few years”

Since we’re on the topic, what are your thoughts on the Steam Deck so far? Have you been enjoying it over the past year?

One Year of LGC: The Bad, and the Good

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 14:38:36 +0000

Hard to believe, but it’s already been a year since I wrote my first post on LGC. If you got a dollar every time someone said, “time flies,” you’d probably be swimming in cash right now. But it’s true!

I wanted to go over both the bad and the good of having LGC around. I’ll start with the bad first, since I want to end this post on a positive note. But before that, I wanted to briefly go over some website stats.

Stats

Over the past 12 months, there have been 406k unique visitors and 574k total pageviews. You divide that by month, that’s around 34k readers and 48k pageviews. Per day, that would be a little over 1,000 visitors. It’s been getting somewhat better over the past few months though. For example, there were 46k visitors over the last 30 days, which would be about 1.5k visitors per day.

Top 5 articles, listed from most viewed to least, are:

Proton Next announcement – 55k views
Ryujinx VS. Yuzu on Deck – 27k views
DLSS unlocker guide – 14k views
GE-Proton guide – 11k views
Nobara Project announcement – 10k views

By far my largest source of traffic is from Google. 134k visitors came from this source over the past year. The most common articles that people have searched for with this engine, listed from highest to lowest, are as follows:

After Google comes Reddit, Hacker News, then DuckDuckGo.

By far the most traffic comes from the United States, coming at 157k visitors. The second-largest, the United Kingdom, pales in comparison, at just 30k visitors. Germany doesn’t fall much behind at 28k. By region, England is the most common, while New York City is the most common city.

As for operating systems, Android is king, coming at 35% of total traffic. The second – interestingly enough – would be Windows, at 26%. GNU/Linux places third at 17% (yes, I said GNU. Bite me). iOS, Mac, then Ubuntu follow. Mobile users take almost the majority of visitors at 46%, then desktop at 38%. Laptop and tablet users only make up 12% and 5%, respectively. As for browsers, Chrome is the most used at 45%. Firefox takes 30%, Safari 14%, and Edge at 4%. Several other browsers are used, but they are far more niche than the rest.

Stats aren’t hidden, by the way; they’re publicly visible here.

Bad Traffic

Frankly, it’s been a struggle getting traffic. The average amount of unique visitors I get per day is 1.5k. Total pageviews per day is around 2.3k. 1.4k followers on Mastodon, a little over 500 followers on Twitter, a little over 300 subs on YouTube, 83 members on Discord. These numbers pale in comparison to some other websites, despite how much I try to remind myself not to compare numbers, because it often gets depressing. To this day I’m still trying to figure out why I’m not doing better. Is it because of the website? Does it not look right? Something wrong with the font? SEO not properly set up? What, am I talking about Metroid and Smash Bros. too much?

I have a theory for the small traffic though. See, these days, it doesn’t take much to be a blogger or YouTuber. You could have absolutely no experience in journalism, start up your own site, and, depending on your SEO and the things you talk about, get clicks. But here’s the thing: because of how easy it is to run your own website, just look at the number of Steam Deck-related websites and YouTubers that have been popping up, just in the last year.

So, because I talk about both Linux and Steam Deck gaming, I’m struggling trying to stand out from the crowd. A lot of the things that I talk about are things that these other websites/YouTubers are also giving the buzz to. Which is why I’m trying to figure out how to make my content more unique. Either that, or make sure that I’m the first one to cover that Proton Experimental update, even if that means staying up past midnight and losing sleep. If I’m not the first to cover it, then it already becomes old news and I lose clicks.

There was one time where I got lucky. Back in November, when Valve first introduced Proton Next, someone submitted the article on Hacker News. Evidently, it was briefly one of the top 10 most-popular articles there. View count exploded at that point; I was getting over 700 visitors to the site at once! It’s by far my most-viewed article on the site, with over 55k views.

But here’s the thing that grinds my gears. I really didn’t spend much time on that article. You can tell it was mostly a copy/paste of the patch notes. So, when I get 55k views on an article like that, versus the 100 or so views I get on a game that I spent weeks playing, then half a day writing the review with my blood, sweat, and skin, you tell me what sort of articles I should prioritize. It’s sad knowing that the copypasta articles with bare-minimum effort are the ones that make all the headlines. Work your arse off on a different type of article, and not even get one percent of those clicks.

You’re probably saying, “Mark, your website has only been around for a year, it’s normal to have low numbers like these for now.” You know what? I don’t disagree. But can you explain to me how X Steam Deck YouTuber/website has been around for even less time, and basically become this overnight success? Can you explain to me how they already get sponsors and have 20 times the amount of followers that I do? Can you explain to me why they deserve their popularity, even though they never had any previous journalism experience?

So, I’d like to ask the community, as well as fellow journalists and YouTubers, a favor. If you find an article that you like, please submit it on social media. Post it on Reddit. Put a link to the article in the description of your video. Outside of Google, Reddit is my largest source of traffic, and while r/linux_gaming is kind enough to allow self-promotion, I’ve honestly grown a bit tired of spamming my own stuff there. A lot of other subreddits don’t allow self-promotion anyway. Hacker News is also a great place to share articles, provided that it gets enough upvotes.

Bad Press

I’m starting to realize why companies are so hesitant to respond to new outlets like myself. Let’s illustrate it this way: say you gave me a graphics card. A good one, at that. The only requirement you have is that I have to follow up with a review of the card.

Several months go by and I decide not to review the card. How would that make you feel? You might have spent some hard-earned cash on that card. Spent even more money by shipping it to me. All that hard work and money is essentially thrown down the toilet, because I didn’t fulfill my end of the deal. I mean, there are obviously life circumstances that can get in the way and cause the review to get delayed. But if I don’t follow up with a review at all, I’m sure you’d be pretty pissed. You would never want to send me anything again – except for maybe a box with a picture of a middle finger inside.

Here’s the analogy: I was fortunate enough to get a review sample of the Intel Optane SSD before they were fully retired. There were 14 other people who got a sample at the same time as me. Now mind you, these samples were sent way back in October. I didn’t have my review ready until six weeks later, but aside from one other person, I was the only one that followed through with a review. I can only imagine Jacek Wysoczynski’s frustration. All those samples sent out – some of which were worth hundreds of dollars – for basically no one to follow through with. Just take advantage of the fact that they were “free” and hoard it to themselves. Sure, there were promises of “should be ready to publish it this week” and “I’ll be putting up a review of Optane shortly” but, of course, nothing came to fruition weeks later. A hardware review should not take longer than a few months. I frankly don’t care how busy the reviewer might be.

And so, now my work is that much harder, to prove to companies/publishers that I’m a “legit” source who will keep their word and follow up with a review, even if I might unintentionally damage the product if I have to return it (which, admittedly, has happened in the past). It’s examples like the one above that cause these companies to think twice. As annoying as the silence might be after contacting them, I’ve finally drawn my own conclusion that this is likely the reason for it.

In fact, some of the companies who I once worked with have told me that I’m no longer worth their time, because my numbers are too low. As painful as those emails have been to digest, what makes the situation even more awkward is, when you consult the advice of a few friends as to whether or not you should respond – and if so, what you should say – they don’t really know what to do.

Bad Blood

Several months ago, when I wrote about my reasons for founding LGC, one of them was “LGC does not want to be an enemy with anyone.” Well, I feel a bit hypocritical now when I say that. I’m not going to go so far as to say that I have made enemies. But I have become so envious of the success of some content creators, that I just don’t want to have anything to do with them. It’s sad, really; some of these content creators were even in the talks of wanting to form a “partnership” with me. In hindsight I’m biting myself; I actually could have taken advantage of their offer to boost some of my own traffic. Now they’ve expressed sorrow and disappointment that I refuse to collaborate with them. I take 100% of the blame for that. I just wish I could swallow my pride and accept the fact that there is always someone who’s going to be more successful than I am, even if I feel like they don’t put in the same amount of effort as I do, or they don’t have as much experience in journalism as I do.

Image credit: UMG

Maybe one day, if I ever become as popular, maybe I wouldn’t be so opposed to the idea of collaboration.

Bad Financial Support

I have three patrons so far; one on Ko-Fi, one on Liberapay, and one on Patreon. I knew, 110%, that I was going to get few to no patrons at all. Which was why I was so hesitant about setting up a donation page in the first place. Heck, for a while I looked like an idiot on Patreon, because the page said “$0 per month, 0 patrons.” For the few people that actually saw that page, it probably gave them the impression that I had a few patrons, but they all stopped supporting me because I said or did something that was controversial. Or that my work just wasn’t good enough. Nevertheless, I set up donations anyway thanks to the encouraging comments I got from my post earlier this year, and because it’s so expensive keeping the Plausible Analytics subscription active. I’d also like to thank Luke Short, who came to the rescue and supported me on Patreon. At least one patron looks better than zero.

And look, part of me understands the lack of patrons. Keeping the necessary bills paid in of itself is becoming increasingly expensive year-by-year, so I don’t blame some readers for giving higher priority for their rent/mortgage. Money is tight for just about everyone. In fact I might need to pick up a second job myself. It won’t leave as much time for the site, but seeing the numbers getting higher every year is anxiety-inducing and depressing.

The Good

I’ve cultivated a few friendships over the past year. Some of them have been really close. The ChimeraOS developers in particular – I have high regard and respect for them. Like, I can say whatever is on my mind, go off-topic, and just have a real, pleasant conversation. Honestly, I’d rather have these friendships than having one million followers on Twitter.

As a journalist, one of the benefits I get is getting hardware and games that I would have otherwise had to pay hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars for. The HP Dev One is an example of a laptop that I got to keep, on the house, along with a nice mouse and the Launch keyboard by System76. This would have been worth close to $1,500 if I had to pay for it. Sadly, the Dev One is being discontinued, but it’s a great laptop. It was pretty awesome to also get games like The Entropy Centre and SpongeBob: The Cosmic Shake. I even got early access to the latter. Nice to actually have the time to play the game and have the review ready the day the embargo lifts.

Back in October I kind of went on a tangent regarding how jealous I was of other peoples’ success. I was overwhelmed by the responses I got on that and the encouragement that I received. These comments were sent via DM, so I’ll be respecting the names of the individuals that sent them, but here were a few examples:

Hey Mark, just read your post. Just know that I exactly feel the same way often times…Completely understandable. But hey, I didn’t get Kena. You did. And that’s amazing!

Great article. I respect that in every way. You have my full respect.

You’ve been a big supporter of mine and I remember you posted an article about how jealous you were for not getting sponsorships. I totally get that feeling of being an underdog and it’s surprising because you seriously make some of the best news content out there! You dive into details or topics that are interesting and no one else talks about.

This one in particular, though…it hits hard (in a good way):

I just wanted to let you know that I love your site and I think you are doing an amazing job. Since the beginning when you went off on your own I was very impressed with your ability and work ethic. Keep it up! If it helps, I have been jealous and in awe of your ability to write amazing articles at such a fast pace. To put together an amazing website and community!

Even random emails like this go a long way to make my day:

Thank you for the upbuilding comments and letting me know that my efforts haven’t been fruitless. I should print these comments out and keep them as a sticky note on my fridge. That way, any time I need a morale boost, I can just read these comments at a glance.

Dedicated to an Amazing Couple

I want you to think back to a time in your life where a stranger did a random act of kindness for you. How did it make you feel? Almost made you want to cry, right? Or perhaps you’re feeling down, and listened to a song that calms your nerves, lifts your spirits up. The songwriter might not have made that song just for you, but you appreciate the music nonetheless because of the effect it has on you.

Now imagine that songwriter did make it just for you. It’s not because you did them a favor. In fact, the songwriter barely even knows you. But they made that song because they knew it’s something you’d appreciate.

That’s how I felt when Ashley Anderson – the wife of one of the ChimeraOS devs – made her artwork. She didn’t even know me. I didn’t do any favors for her. She just did it out of the kindness of her heart. The artwork itself is great. But I think what pulls on my heart strings even more is the fact I didn’t even ask for this. Just made it out of nowhere – despite how busy her work life is – and surprised me, and didn’t ask for a bill. It’s hard to describe in words how grateful I am for this gift. I’ve said this before, but looking at the artwork has this phycological crutch that just turns my world upside down, for the better. And if you haven’t noticed, I’ve kind of sprinkled this artwork in some of the articles I’ve written. It’s on my fridge. It’s my phone’s wallpaper. It’s my Deck’s wallpaper. My Discord profile picture.

The lesson I can give here, I guess, is this: you’d be surprised how much a simple act of kindness can make a person’s day. To help them to hang in there, whether they’re a stranger or someone you know well. I know for me, this artwork inspired me to make artwork for other people. I try to do it as a surprise, and make something that I know they will like. But you don’t have to go that far; just a simple “I’m thinking of you” or “I appreciate what you do” is really all that’s needed.

Of course, I can’t go without mentioning Matthew Anderson (Ruineka). Probably the deepest friendship I’ve ever had. He bought me Sonic Frontiers. Heck, he even offered me his Steam Deck so that I could review it (I didn’t get mine till June). And overall just a super nice person, where again, I can just say whatever is on my mind to him, and argue with him what the best Sonic soundtrack is. He wrote a review of the HP Dev One on my site. And I’ve consulted his advice many times before submitting an article as to what should be improved upon, what should get removed, etc. It’s worth giving a read to the interview I had with him and Samsagax, one of the other devs behind ChimeraOS (you’re a dev, dude, stop telling people that you’re not).

Matthew, Ashley, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t think you realize how much you’ve helped me out.

A Thank You to Others

In addition to Matt and Ashley, I’d like to thank the following individuals:

Boiling Steam – in particular Ekianjo, Podiki, and Patola. If it wasn’t for them and the lessons they taught me to make sure every nook & cranny is covered in an article, the quality of my articles wouldn’t be the same
ChimeraOS team – in particular Alkazar, the founder; Ruineka; and Samsagax. They are among some of the closest online friendships that I’ve had, and have been very supportive of my work
Gaming on Linux – in particular Liam Dawe, for occasionally pointing out things in some of my articles that may need revision
Luke Short – for helping me get in touch with Intel, for the creation of winesapOS, as well as being a strong, encouraging support line
Jacek Wysoczynski – the one who is “responsible for Strategy and Solution Architecture in the Intel Optane Group” and sent me the Intel Optane 905p. Similar to Luke, Jacek has also had a very positive influence
Fabian from Steam Deck Checker – for checking in from time-to-time to see how I’m doing, and for linking some of my articles in his videos
Timo from the Deckverse – similar to Steam Deck Checker, for checking in occasionally
Gardiner Bryant – for being such a nice guy, and for referring to my Metroid Prime Remastered Steam Deck report in one of his videos
Álex Román – the developer behind the rhythm-based game Project Heartbeat. His game was the first that I reviewed on LGC, and he offered to be interviewed. He helped me set on my path so that I could get more game review keys in the future
GDKChan – founder of the Ryujinx Nintendo Switch emulator. I really enjoy the interviews I have with him; he’s very open-minded and honest with his answers. I can’t wait to interview him again later this year
Gabmus – owner of Deck Central. He helped make comments individual to each post, rather than the global comment section I had before
Retro Studios – this is kind of an odd one, but if it weren’t for them, Metroid Prime, as well as the remaster, wouldn’t exist. If you’ve read my review you’d know how much of an impact this game has had on me
Samus Prime, Ray3D, and SirMangler – the devs/artists behind the unoffical remaster of Metroid Prime, for giving me the opportunity to interview them. Sadly they’ve decided to move on to greener pastures since the official remaster came out, but I wish them the best with Prime 2 and their original IP
patrons – you might be few in number, but the fact you’re willing to support me is even better than the money itself
you, the reader. Even if it’s a comment that attacks me, the fact you spent the time to write your comment means something to me (but be aware, your comment probably got removed). Even some of your insults have given me a good chuckle. And, of course, the positive and encouraging comments as well, or sharing your opinion on a certain topic. Just the fact you’re willing to read stuff on my site is a good sign

I mean, there’s probably a few people that I’m missing. If so, I apologize.

The Future

LGC will be more-or-less the same thing. I’ll still have news, reviews, opinions, interviews, occasional off-topic posts, etc. My living situation isn’t exactly ideal at the moment, and I may need to pick up a second job, so the frequency of posts may start to slow down without notice. I’m definitely going to give game reviews less priority than everything else going forward; they require the most effort while getting the least amount of views.

Hopefully traffic will continue to improve over time. Of course, I’m open to suggestions as to what can be improved on the site, or the things I should be covering. I do have plans on adding a Search bar to the site; believe me, I want it as much as you do. I have looked into it once, but unfortunately it’s a little more complicated than I thought. I still do want to add it at some point though. In the meantime I’ve added a commonly used tags section on the Wiki/Bookmarks page, so hopefully it can make your search for any particular article a little easier.

TL;DR

low traffic; trying to work on this. If there’s an article you like, please share it
thank you, Matthew, Ashley, and several others for the support
hopefully I can get a search bar added at some point

Nope, Counter-Strike 2 Ain't Real

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 20:09:20 +0000

Journalists seem to be a bit too excited making the headlines about this. According to a GeForce Experience/NVIDIA driver leak, dataminers have found an executable file named “csgos2.exe”. This led some people to believe Valve was working on a successor to CS:GO. What made matters worse, is Richard Lewis wrote a post saying that Counter-Strike 2 is real and “round the corner,” further fueling the fire for Counter-Strike fans to get excited.

Hate to burst your bubble, but this isn’t the case. The “CS2” reference in the NVIDIA leak is actually a reference to a project that ended development in 2009 – which, according to Tyler McVicker, was headed by Minh-Le, one of the co-creators of the Counter-Strike series. This project would later be picked up on and be known as Tactical Intervention. Valve apparently sent hardware “to third-parties to be able to test and prepare themselves for the Counter-Strike source to build” but that hardware contained this “CS2” executable file.

The reality is CS:GO is actually getting ported to Source 2. This will allow official and workshop developers “access to the incredibly improved Source 2 tools” for expanded in-game content. This has been a long time in the making, but evidently we’ll be seeing “public releases and announcements” within the next two months.

See Tyler’s video for more details.

8BitDo Pro 2 Getting Better Support with Kernel 6.3

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:58:34 +0000

If you go to 8BitDo’s website you’ll notice the Pro 2 wired gamepad is advertised as working for SteamOS 3.4/Steam Deck. While it technically does, there’s a bit of a hurdle. According to Phoronix, users have had “problematic” issues using the X-Input mode. If they want to use this mode, they’ve often had to resort to xboxdrv to get it to work nicely.

Well, beginning with kernel 6.3, this workaround will no longer be required. The wired version of the gamepad will be “added to the XPad driver as an Xbox 360 compatible device type” with the “necessary vendor/product IDs.” This is thanks to a pull request submitted by Dmitry Torokhov, which, in part, contains the XPad driver for said gamepad. This has been approved and will be merged into 6.3.

As the first RC for kernel 6.3 just released yesterday, it will be a while before 6.3 becomes stable – late April/early May. And since the next SteamOS update is updating to 6.1, it will be even longer before users get proper X-Input support on Deck. Guess you’ll have to keep using xboxdrv for now.

Cover image credit: 8BitDo

GE-Proton7-50 Fixes Black Window for Metal Slug

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:40:43 +0000

Some Protonfixes have been removed with this release – in particular, Persona 4 Golden and Battle Fantasia, as they are no longer needed. One Protonfix was added for Metal Slug; this fixes the black window.

Upstream VKD3D, font, VR client/OpenVR, Steam client, and Proton updates have been imported. Wine-staging patches have been rebased. Finally, DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and Wine have all been updated to “latest git” or “bleeding edge.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Dotemu/SNK Corporation

Weekly News Recap (Factorio Wayland, CryoUtilities Interview, HP Dev One Goes Bye-Bye)

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 21:51:01 +0000

Steam Deck

use CryoUtilities? I had an interview with the project founder
it’s possible to patch in audio support for distros besides SteamOS
Wednesday’s client beta adds DualSense Edge support
Thursday’s SteamOS beta update upgrades Mesa to 23.1, adding ray-tracing to DOOM Eternal

Native Games

Stardust Exile is an RTS set in space that just landed on Steam in early access
Factorio gets Wayland support

Software Updates

Wine 8.3 adds low frag heap, fixes stuttering with Path of Exile
Proton Experimental 2.27.2023 adds fixes for No Man’s Sky, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Pentiment, Locoland, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Godot 4 releases as stable, way too many changes to list here
Kernel 6.3 gets its first release candidate

Other

game devs are now only allowed 5K Steam keys
Wine may soon get a Wayland driver
I reviewed the best couch-gaming distro
HP Dev One seems to be sold out

Cover image credit: Wube Software, LTD

Wine 8.3 Adds Support for Low Fragmentation Heap, Fixes Stuttering with Path of Exile

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 03:54:32 +0000

Wine 8.3 is out and comes with the following:

support for Low Fragmentation Heap
smart card support with PCSC-Lite
“more correct” disassembly with bundled Zydis library

Along with this are 29 bug fixes. Gaming-related fixes are in bold:

3D Sexvilla 2: extremely long loading times
Path of Exile stutters constantly
Setup of game “What’s the Secret?” fails to create icon
Sacred: unhandled exception in Wine 7.14
Escape from Tarkov needs DisplayConfigGetDeviceInfo(DISPLAYCONFIG_DEVICE_INFO_GET_TARGET_NAME) implementation
Saints Row: The Third heavy rain causes heavy FPS reductions
Untis 2015 (.NET 4.0 app) crashes on startup with Wine-Mono
Multiple PC/SC applications need winscard.SCardEstablishContext implementation (AusweisApp2 1.x german identity card app, SmartCard test apps, Seneka EBDYS client, Aruba Key)
Multiple PC/SC applications need winscard.SCardListReaders implementation (Aruba key, SmartCard test apps)
Freelist scan can result in O(n) time when allocating
Button not clickable when dpi setting changed in Office 2007 Installer
Wine heap performs badly when multiple threads are concurrently allocating or freeing memory
6.0.1 Introduces error causing Wavelab to close when loading presets
ntdll:rtlstr test crashes on win32 arch with hi-IN locale
KeePassXC needs Windows.Security.Credentials.KeyCredentialManager (UWP)
rouvy: fails to update with server, unimplemented function bthprops.cpl.BluetoothRegisterForAuthenticationEx
shlwapi:ordinal- test_SHFormatDateTimeA() fails on the mixed locales configuration
Swift crashes due to unimplemented api-ms-win-core-realtime-l1-1-1.dll.QueryUnbiasedInterruptTimePrecise function
Missing ntdll.RtlAddressInSectionTable() implementation causes all GraalVM Native Image exes to crash on load
Hardwar UIM6.0 crashes in 8.0, doesn’t in 6.0.3
dbghelp:dbghelp- The test_loaded_modules() enumeration fails on Windows 10 1607
riched20:editor- test_EM_GETSELTEXT() fails in the Hindi locale on Windows
The 64-bit oleaut32:usrmarshal crashes in Wine
Rich Edit crashes when Ctrl+Right is pressed at past the final paragraph
riched20:richole- subtest_InsertObject() fails in the Hindi locale on Windows
SpeedCommander 20 installer crashes on unimplemented function SHELL32.dll.Shell_GetCachedImageIndexW
kernel32:locale- test_NLSVersion() fails on Windows 10 22H2
kernel32:locale- The non-breaking space GetNumberFormatEx() test fails on Windows 11
kernel32:locale- The NtGetNlsSectionPtr() test fails on Windows 11

See the patch notes on WineHQ for more info.

Cover image credit: Grinding Gear Games

Turn Your PC Into a Console With ChimeraOS

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 15:23:17 +0000

On my to-do list was this:

An article dedicated to my favorite group of developers…but I’m not going to reveal what it is just yet wink.

Well, I’m about to reveal what exactly that article is. It’s this. A review – and a tribute – to what, in my opinion, is the best gaming distro of all time. Only sad part is I’m a bit late to the party; ETA Prime kind of stole my thunder when he covered the distro last week on his channel. I wanted to be the first one to surprise the dev team, as they’re my favorite group of developers. They’re some of the most humble people that I know. Need to make a note to myself to work a bit faster next time.

At any rate, I simply can’t go about my daily routine without giving a shout out to ChimeraOS. It’s a distro that I’ve reviewed a few years ago, and I wanted to come back and see what has been improved over the last three years.

For starters, in case you’re not aware of what ChimeraOS is, it’s an Arch-based Linux distribution that’s designed to run Steam’s Big Picture interface on startup. The idea is you can transform your desktop PC into a console by having a controller-driven interface, without ever needing to connect a keyboard or mouse. Basically, it was the much-needed spiritual successor to the old SteamOS 1.0/2.0, that got rid of a lot of the headache that came with SteamOS prior to version 3.0. It also provided an enhanced experience with things like the Chimera web app, which allows the user to add ROMs and certain Flatpak applications with another device connected to the same network.

ChimeraOS also comes with enhanced security by keeping the core filesystem immutable. Updates to ChimeraOS – things like the kernel, the graphics driver, etc. – are handled entirely by the ChimeraOS team and not the end user. This allows for curated packages, ensuring they’re properly tested and working before they are shipped to the end user. If something goes wrong, it’s usually because of the ChimeraOS team, not the user.

That being said, users can still make use of their own software through the use of Flatpaks. These Flatpaks can be added through the aforementioned Chimera app, or by using the GNOME Software Center in Desktop Mode. Users can also unlock the file system via a terminal command, and install packages with pacman.

Sound familiar? That’s because that is pretty much what SteamOS 3.x does. Like ChimeraOS, SteamOS 3 is based on Arch, uses an immutable file system, and makes use of software outside of Steam via Flatpaks. So here’s an interesting tidbit that I’d like you to know: the ChimeraOS team were the first ones to implement this idea. Valve quietly copied these ideas into SteamOS 3, without ever acknowledging the ChimeraOS team. It seriously makes me wonder what SteamOS 3 would have been like if it weren’t for ChimeraOS. ChimeraOS founder, Alesh Slovak, even hinted at this when I interviewed him back in April.

Installation

Installation of ChimeraOS is simple. Just head over to the Download page, download the ISO, and flash it to a flash drive. Boot from this media and, with a keyboard connected, go through the installation process. You’ll be greeted with a black background with white text; typical of any Linux distro. But give it a minute or two and you should get a blue screen of death.

Heh, I’m kidding. But the screen will turn blue, and you should have a text-based installer (kind of similar to archinstall). For some reason ChimeraOS couldn’t detect an Internet connection on my end via Ethernet, so I had to go to the Configuration screen and connect from there.

Here’s an improvement from three years ago: previously, you could only install the distro with an Ethernet connection. As of version 25, it’s possible to connect to the Internet with Wi-Fi and proceed with the installation.

After connecting to the Internet, be it Ethernet or Wi-Fi, you’ll be asked what disk to install the distro on. You won’t be able to dual-boot with this distro; not on the same drive anyway. But if you have a seperate hard drive to spare, you can install ChimeraOS on this, and still retain other operating systems if they’re on a different drive. Be aware the drive you select will be formatted, so if you have data on it, be sure to back it up before proceeding.

The installer will download the latest image of ChimeraOS (which, at the time of writing this, is version 39), extract it, then install. Overall the installation shouldn’t take any longer than five minutes. Once installed, you’ll be asked if you want to reboot. If not, you’ll be using the CLI. Not really sure what the point of that would be, so I would suggest restarting at that point.

After restarting, there’s this new boot animation that plays. It’s the ChimeraOS logo. The text will shine and will gradually move from left to right. Some stuff gets downloaded; apparently they’re “configuration updates” but nothing more is described. I would assume it’s downloading the Steam client and some minor ChimeraOS updates.

As of version 39, the old BPM has finally been retired in favor of the new BPM, which the Steam Deck uses. Hopefully you’re using an AMD GPU; you’re going to have a sluggish experience if you’re on NVIDIA (supposedly the beta Steam client fixes NVIDIA performance in new BPM, but I cannot personally confirm this). If you’re using NVIDIA, I would suggest opting into the beta Steam client for now; hopefully the navigation won’t be as painful.

You’ll go through the process as if you got your Steam Deck for the first time: language selection, and a “Welcome to Steam Deck” visual tour. Valve should really update the glyphs if the user is on desktop; right now the icons are all Steam Deck-oriented. (I wonder if it’s possible to customize the glyphs yourself; there’s probably some PNG files somewhere in the Steam installation folder.)

After all is said and done, you will be presented with the new Big Picture interface.

One suggestion for the ChimeraOS devs: would be nice if there was an installer ISO that doesn’t require the use of an Internet connection.

General Use

While the new BPM is nice, one thing you’ll need to get used to is Steam thinks you’re using a Steam Deck. So, for instance, when there’s an update to Steam, the Settings menu will mention there’s a new Steam Deck client update. Steam client update channel options are labeled as “Steam Deck Stable” and “Steam Deck beta”. The Steam Input screen will show a Steam Deck by default. When installing a game, you’ll still get the “Steam Deck compatibility” screen before installing. When viewing your Steam library, there’s still the “Great on Deck” category. It’s kind of silly on Valve’s part to enable the new BPM by default on the stable Steam client branch, without even updating the icons if the user is on desktop. Not to mention the bad performance on NVIDIA GPUs. Still, I’d rather take the new interface than the archaic old BPM.

What actually kind of shocked me is Decky Loader actually works with ChimeraOS. Not all the plugins work; particularly the Audio Loader. But most of them do. I was able to change the CSS theming in BPM. I was able to find out how much battery life my gamepad has with ControllerTools, and add artwork to non-Steam games with SteamGridDB. It was nice to be able to customize the Steam theme. I would like to see Audio Loader work sometime in the future so I can add some background music, but I’d honestly have no idea how or if the ChimeraOS devs would be able to work that out.

A nice feature is GE-Proton is included out of the box with ChimeraOS. No need to download and run ProtonUp-Qt. From what I’ve seen, it looks like Boxtron is also included for running DOS games. New versions of GE-Proton get added over time with updates to ChimeraOS.

CryoUtilities worked for the most part as well. I couldn’t use the installer script; I had to download the binary from the Releases in order to use it. I was able to change the swappiness value, enable shared memory on THP, enable compaction proactiveness, enable huge page defragmentation, and enable page lock unfairness. Only thing I was not able to do is change the swap size. I don’t even know what the default swap size is on ChimeraOS, or if there is a swap file/partition.

Another utility that worked out of the box was EmuDeck. Was able to add Metroid Prime Remastered to Steam BPM, and add artwork via Steam ROM Manager without issue. For some reason Steam thinks the game is “My Pet Rock” but fortunately the SteamGridDB plugin came to the rescue, and I was able to add the proper artwork with this plugin.

My Mayflash adapter worked out of the box. Frigging phenomenal. What’s even better was I was able to overclock the adapter without hassle. Just install the PKGBUILD of gcadapter_oc_kmod after unlocking the file system, and I was good to go. Now I can play Melee with my overclocked GameCube controller online without issue. Add Slippi as a non-Steam game, have Melee launch on startup, and I can play online directly from Steam BPM. Fricking gold, man. Honestly, if that criteria passes, that’s the only requirement that I have as to whether or not a distro has my approval. ChimeraOS certainly meets my approval.

One caveat you should be aware of, is that .desktop files don’t seem to work. Even after marking them as executable, double-clicking them will just open up the .desktop file in a text editor. The only way I was able to properly install Decky Loader, EmuDeck, etc. was by running the command within the Exec parameter in the terminal. For instance, to install EmuDeck I had to run sh -c 'curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/main/install.sh | bash'. Then, to use it, I had to run the AppImage found in ~/Applications/.

When running a game, you’ll be limited to 720p resolution. I’m assuming this is because of how Gamescope is set up. To have higher resolutions available, you’ll need to go to the game’s properties in Steam and increase the resolution from there. It’s a bit of a nuisance; I would assume most desktop users are using 1080p, 1440p, or 4K resolutions, and this needs to be set on a per-game basis. To my knowledge there’s no global option for this.

The framerate limiter actually works from the Quick Access Menu. The framerate limit can be set to 15, 30, 60, or unlimited. Based on my testing the 60 FPS option also acts as the “Unlimited” option. The refresh rate slider isn’t visible. Adjusting the TDP limit doesn’t seem to do anything. When toggling the GPU clock speed limiter, the slider doesn’t even become present. If a user has ChimeraOS installed on a laptop or handheld, adding these features might be a good idea for maximizing battery life time.

An interesting feature is ChimeraOS seems to have NVIDIA Image Scaling available from the QAM. Seems to work so far based on my testing. Interestingly enough this is only available on Deck if you’re opted into the “Main” branch.

Chimera Web App

Formerly called Steam Buddy, the Chimera Web App allows you to add Flatpaks from Flathub, in addition to ROMs. Basically how it works is this: on another device, such as your phone, tablet, or laptop, you can access the web app, so long as said device is connected to the same network that the computer with ChimeraOS is, and the computer is on. With a web browser, you put in the local IP address of ChimeraOS in the URL, or chimeraos.local (the latter doesn’t work for me, so YMMV). You’ll then be presented with a password prompt. A password will show up on ChimeraOS. Put in this password on your phone, and now you’ve got some pretty neat options at your disposal.

Things you can do with the web app:

add ROMs from various consoles, upload them to the ChimeraOS machine, and then ChimeraOS will add these ROMs to Steam with the appropriate emulator
add various Flatpaks to Steam, such as Spotify, Minecraft, Super Tux Kart, etc.
use your phone as a remote for ChimeraOS; load or save a game, restart Steam, suspend the computer, turn it off, adjust volume, etc.
enable or disable FTP/SSH access
format other drives that are present on the system
link your Epic Games account (and presumably add games from your Epic library to Steam; I haven’t tested this)

You can do all of this on your phone; you don’t need to connect a mouse and keyboard to the host machine to do the same thing. So, for example, if you wanted to add Zelda: Wind Waker to ChimeraOS, you would access the web app on your phone, locate GameCube from the emulator list, add your legal dump that’s stored on your phone, add artwork, upload it to the ChimeraOS machine, then reboot Steam on said machine. Wind Waker should now be available on from the “Non-Steam” category in your library. Launch it and it should just work out of the box with Dolphin. Pretty convenient.

It’s kind of difficult to explain this concept on paper, so I don’t blame you if you’re a little confused about this. I might have a video on this later on to explain this better.

One thing I’d like to see: add Nintendo Switch/Wii U/PS3 emulator support. Currently, you can only go up to the Wii era of games. That being said, you can make use of EmuDeck, as I had alluded to earlier, to add these games to your Steam library.

Another thing I’d like to see: Netflix support? It’s technically possible by installing a Chrome app and adding said app as a non-Steam game, although it might not work nicely with a gamepad.

Oh, one last thing: add dark mode support. Although, I already know this is in the pipeline; I personally spoke about it with the project founder.

ChimeraOS Playable/Verified

Similar to how the Steam Deck Playable/Verified program works, ChimeraOS has a similar service. The ChimeraOS team has their own curated program that will let you know how well a game plays with said operating system. As a quick example, Soul Calibur VI and Ultra Street Fighter IV are marked as “ChimeraOS Playable”. Gang Beasts, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Sonic Mania are marked as “ChimeraOS Verified”. Honestly, this isn’t something that I’ve paid much attention to, but if you want to know whether the game you want to play works well or not with a gamepad, you can use this as a guiding system.

Desktop Mode

ChimeraOS 35 added a desktop mode. I know this was a long-standing debate with the team, as to whether they should add one, and if they did, what DE it would use. They finally added this and went with GNOME. I’m kind of curious why they went with GNOME. Likely because, outside of KDE Plasma, GNOME is one of the most popular DEs out there. But I’m glad they added a desktop. To me, this adds a lot more functionality to the OS (I wouldn’t be able to install Decky Loader or use CryoUtilities otherwise). I was also able to write this review entirely on ChimeraOS because of this.

Just be aware the Desktop Mode is incredibly barebones. There’s only one wallpaper, and a web browser isn’t even included. Some suggestions I’m going to throw out to the team:

add a few more wallpapers
add a web browser

Just those two things I think would have made the desktop experience a little more bearable. Of course, vanilla GNOME is just…nuts. Like, why, why get rid of the minimize and maximize buttons? Why get rid of the desktop icons? Why get rid of the icons on the taskbar? Why can’t I take screenshots in a format other than PNG? I was able to get a few extensions to work after unlocking the file system and installing gnome-browser-connector via the AUR, but of course, not all of them worked. Extensions always have a tendancy of breaking whenever there’s a new update to GNOME. Of course, I’m not blaming the Chimera team for this; this is all because of the GNOME team’s choices.

Though the file system is immutable by default, you can unlock it with sudo frzr-unlock. After unlocking the file system, you can install packages with pacman. And thank goodness, ChimeraOS does not butcher most of the packages from the official Arch repos. Meaning you should be able to install most Arch packages without any hassle. I know for a fact on SteamOS 3, installing packages is a huge pain in the arse, because there’s usually this mess if you try to install one, and then when you think you found a solution, the situation only becomes more complicated for X, Y, and Z reasons.

If you wanted to you could install an AUR helper, such as yay or paru, so you can easily install AUR packages. This has certainly been useful on my end, as without this I would not have been able to get GNOME extensions to work, neither would I have been able to overclock my Mayflash GameCube adapter. The one advantage SteamOS 3 has in this regard, however, is the user is able to lock the file system again by running the appropriate command in the terminal. To my knowledge, it’s not possible to lock the file system again in ChimeraOS. I’d like to see this functionality in the future, so the OS is more secure.

If you have a flash drive, MicroSD card, or other hard drive installed on your system, ChimeraOS won’t be able to detect them. I’m assuming the distro is missing the necessary packages/drivers needed for that. So, just be aware if you want to transfer files from different drives, you’ll have to install the necessary software for that before doing so.

Any time you want to return to Game Mode, simply select the appropriate icon from the “Show Applications” button from the Dash panel. To go back to Desktop Mode, press the Guide button on your gamepad, and select the appropriate option from the menu (very similar to how the Deck works).

Works on Deck

If you wanted to run ChimeraOS on Deck, that’s totally possible. I haven’t personally tested this; I would if my bloody MicroSD card wasn’t stuck inside my Deck. But it seems like you can get audio support after running the installer script from the acp5x-ucm-files repo. Based on Ruineka’s testing (one of the ChimeraOS contributors), it looks like ChimeraOS is running great.

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So, if for some reason you don’t like SteamOS, ChimeraOS is a great alternative.

A Great Couch-Gaming Distro Made Even Better

Going back to my review from three years ago, here was my “not-so-good” list:

Not aimed for productivity use, as there’s no option to switch to a desktop, nor can multitasking be accomplished (i.e. you can’t play a game and ALT + TAB to another application)
Strange mouse cursor issues with Flatpaks
Controls for emulated games may be a bit off, though they can be fixed
Bluetooth controllers have to be re-paired on every startup
Need a wired Internet connection for installation; some folks may not have this
The simplicity of the installer leaves little to no options in terms of configuration
Certain shortcuts, when removed, will reappear after restarting Steam

Most of these issues have been addressed. Wi-Fi installation is now possible. Productivity use has also been added thanks to the addition of a desktop environment. I haven’t had any issues reconnecting Bluetooth gamepads on each restart. Haven’t had any “strange mouse cursor issues” with Flatpaks. Controls with emulated titles, at least with Metroid Prime Remastered and Melee, have been working just fine, without having to reconfigure them. Haven’t tested the shortcut issue, but I would assume that has also been fixed. And the installer itself…well, it was made simple on purpose. And I hope it stays that way, so that there’s no complications.

ChimeraOS even went so far as to address one of the things from my wishlist, that is, to add GE-Proton with the base system. And that they did. Both awesome and convenient.

So, at the end of the day, my gripes are:

installer still needs an Internet connection; would be nice to have an offline installer
TDP limit/GPU clock speed doesn’t work; this would be nice for laptop users or handhelds
add some more functionality to the desktop; at the very least add Firefox or some other web browser, maybe add a few more wallpapers
make it possible to actually run a .desktop file, without opening a text editor or having to resort to a terminal
add Wii U/Switch/PS3 ROM support to the Chimera web app
add a command to lock the file system once it’s been unlocked
don’t make the user manually change the resolution for each game if they want to run it higher than 720p
certain Decky Loader plugins don’t work (although I’m not really blaming the Chimera team for this; this isn’t SteamOS after all)
the icons/glyphs for Steam BPM need to be updated; they shouldn’t be Steam Deck-oriented (again, not necessarily blaming ChimeraOS here; I think that’s more so Valve’s fault)

There’s far more strengths to ChimeraOS, however. It’s a great – and what, in my opinion, is the best – Linux-based distribution to transform your PC into a living room console. Install it and forget about the mouse and keyboard. Just bring the computer itself, the power cable, HDMI/DisplayPort cable, and your favorite gamepad to your next LAN party. Relax from a long, stressful day by turning the computer on and doing some hardcore gaming – again, all without needing that keyboard and mouse connected. On the other hand, if you do want to extend the functionality of ChimeraOS, and use it for purposes other than gaming, that’s also possible thanks to the addition of a desktop. If you wanted to use something other than SteamOS on your Deck, ChimeraOS is also an option there.

I mean, I could go on and on about what I like and don’t like about ChimeraOS, but this review is long enough. Just download it already and install it on a spare hard drive if installing on a computer, or a MicroSD card if you’re on Deck. Thank you, alkazar, Ruineka, Samsagax, pastaq, and the several other developers involved with this project. You’re fixing the things Valve is too lazy to do themselves, and making couch-gaming that much more of a pleasant experience.

SteamOS 3.4.6 Beta Fixes Graphics Corruption Issues with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Adds Ray-Tracing to DOOM Eternal

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 03:14:23 +0000

New update out for Preview users! SteamOS has been updated to 3.4.6. It has the following changes:

Mesa upgraded to 23.1
“graphical corruption issues” fixed with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and “several upcoming titles”
DOOM Eternal gets ray-tracing support

Since Mesa has been upgraded to 23.1, this should also handle Steam’s shader cache better, and less CPU overhead/VRAM use with Zink. If the former is true then hopefully we will no longer have to spend hours waiting for games to update.

See the patch notes on Steam. Note that you will need to be on the Preview branch in order to get this update. I’m also curious if any Deckers out there will notice less shader compilation time with this update; let me know if it’s been improved!

An Interview with Kyle, Author of the CryoUtilities App

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 15:36:02 +0000

If you own a Steam Deck and haven’t used CryoUtilities, do yourself a favor and use it. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

And so, I had an opportunity to interview the primary developer (there’s 12 contributors altogther) behind the excellent app – Kyle (AKA CryoByte33). Watch out; he’s not afraid to boast that he’s in the top 5% of users who have the most knowledge about Linux. But that knowledge has been put to good use – otherwise, I would tend to think CryoUtilities wouldn’t have the performance benefits that it has. His YouTube channel has garnered almost 30K subs, and some have said that Valve should hire him.

They should.

TL;DR

DevOps engineer, 18 years of Linux experience
CryoUtilities: it fine-tunes the kernel on the Deck for increased gaming performance, while also freeing up storage space (leftover Steam compatdata or shader cache)
“top 5%” of users who are familiar with Linux
prefers Arch with GNOME
CryoUtilities uses Go for “rapid prototyping” and “dependency management”
the Steam Deck: “the biggest innovation in gaming in a long, long time”
how to help: contribute to the code if you’re knowledgeable of the Go language, report bugs, contribute financially

Explain who you are and what you do.

My name is CryoByte33, or Kyle, and I’m a DevOps engineer for my day job. I manage the software of hundreds of Linux servers every day, and the hardware of dozens more.

I have 18 years of Linux experience, and my hobbies are gaming, homelabbing, 3D printing, and tinkering with tech. Nowadays I mostly tinker with the Steam Deck!

For people who aren’t aware, can you explain what CryoUtilities is and why a person should use it on their Steam Deck?

CryoUtilities is a utility that I developed which has two main categories of functionality:

First, it performs very low-level kernel tweaks in order to tune the kernel for maximum performance in games. The default Steam Deck configuration is very focused on throughput rather than latency, which harms gaming performance a lot of the time. My tweaks swap that around, which results in higher gaming performance.

Second, it has some storage management features for the Steam Deck. They allow you to clean up data that Steam leaves behind after uninstalling games, or move the compatdata and shadercaches to the same drive where the game is installed. I’ve heard of savings of up to 40GB on the internal drive!

How familiar are you with Linux? Do you have a “go-to” distro and desktop environment?

I’d say that I’m more familiar than the majority of Linux users. I don’t think anyone besides Linus himself can claim to be an expert in every facet, but I’d consider myself to be in the top 5% of users, knowledge-wise.

As for my go-to distro, it depends on the use case. For my desktops and gaming machines, I almost always use an Arch derivative or Arch itself. Currently, my desktop is running Nobara, though I’m missing the AUR quite a bit and will probably move to EndeavourOS.

For homelab use, I prefer CentOS/AlmaLinux for the rock solid stability.

If I use a DM, I prefer GNOME for the workflow management and stability. KDE Plasma is a close second, but I still have some issues with multiple monitors from time to time.

Did you develop CryoUtilities on desktop or on Deck? If on desktop, was it on Windows, Mac, or Linux?

I did most of the development on my 14" M1 Pro Macbook Pro, but all of the testing on the Deck itself. Until just the other day I only had a single Deck, so I couldn’t “pollute” the OS too much without affecting test results. Now that I have a second Deck, I’ll be doing most development from the Deck itself!

What’s your favorite IDE?

I use Jetbrains IDEA with their language plugins for just about everything, although I might swap to Fleet when it leaves early access. I find that the code completion and refactoring is much better than the competitors, and I don’t need to tinker with a ton of plugins to do it.

Besides the speed benefits of the Go language, was there any other reason for switching to said language for CryoUtilities?

Rapid prototyping, dependency management, and I wanted to learn Go. I actually started the latest version in Rust, but prototyping was going slowly and the GUI frameworks aren’t quite there yet. That said, Go has its own struggles so who knows what we’ll see in version 3.

With the new 2.0 release, how has reception been so far?

Beyond my wildest dreams. My channel has gained an extra 50% in subscribers, people are mentioning it on ProtonDB, my Discord has quadrupled in size, and there is very active development happening on it! When I made the original swap resizer script, I was just trying to keep GTA:V and RDR2 from crashing, it’s come a LONG way.

Speculation time: do you think Valve will eventually incorporate some of the features of CryoUtilities into SteamOS?

It’s very possible! Everything except for the swap size is “free” in terms of resources, so there’s nothing keeping them away. That said, page lock unfairness could cause a decrease in “general computing” performance like code compilation or Blender renders, although I haven’t been able to confirm any perceptible differences.

What are your thoughts on the Steam Deck?

I think that it’s the biggest innovation in gaming in a long, long time. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but this is the first glimpse we’ve had at a true console competitor that allows for user serviceability, tweaking, and upgrading.

On a macro scale, I think that the gaming industry has been moving in this direction for a while. Mid-generation refreshes and “pro” controllers are meant to appease the hungrier consumers, with the “Elite” controllers allowing for even more customization. The Steam Deck took that idea and ran with it, for the better.

How can the community help with the growth of the project?

There are three main ways that you can help:

If you know development, especially in Go, feel free to contribute! I’m a bit picky about what makes it in to the final product, but I’d love to see your ideas.
Report any issues you may have in the repo. Myself or another contributor can work on fixing it. We’re also open to improvement suggestions!
Of course, financial support helps. The GitHub sidebar has a few places you can donate, and every dollar helps tremendously for me spending more time on CryoUtilities.

Have you laid out any plans for the 3.0 release, if any?

Not yet, but I have some ideas and tweaks in mind. I don’t think that we’ve hit the limits of what the Deck can do, and I’m going to do my best to hit that limit.

I have a LOT of plans for both CryoUtilities and the channel, so definitely follow along if you’re interested!

Kyle is available at the following places:

RTS Stardust Exile Enters Early Access

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 15:06:18 +0000

The era of space colonization has begun for humanity, but the era of war never ended. Your faction, like many others before, wanted to achieve peace by conquering the cradle of humanity, the Solar System. But it failed and was exiled to the periphery of the Milky Way. Centuries have passed but the war was never forgotten. Now as you become an expansionist empire again, you try to make your way to the Solar System again, and end your exile.

Stardust Exile is a RTS game set in space. It was created by just a single developer and released on Steam in Early Access on February 17th, 2023. The description is as follows:

Players will be able to change the name of stars and planets they find. They can also create their own spaceship designs with an in-game procedural ship generator, and design their fleet to be different from all other players in-game.

It has over 200 billion star systems that are generated “based on currently known exoplanets and stars data” while the rest is procedurally-generated. The main objective is to “return to the Solar System and end your exile” by building a space fleet with defensive units, attack units, and industrial units.

Trailer available on YouTube. Stardust Exile is available natively on Linux! Get it on Steam for $20.

Wine May Soon Work Natively With Wayland

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 13:44:19 +0000

Back in December, Alexandros Frantzis from the Collabora team detailed the progress with Wine working natively on Wayland, rather than using XWayland as a workaround. Improvements made to Wine Wayland include:

support for cross-process rendering – allows Chromium/CEF applications to run
Chrome works without using any flags, and is fully GPU-accelerated on both OpenGL and Vulkan
enhanced support for the linux-dmabuf v4 Wayland protocol – allows compositors to dynamically send info about optimal formats/modifiers

Collabora also posted a video showcasing Wine Wayland’s progress. In it are several games – some of which are 3D – running fairly well, including Call of Duty 2, Phoning Home, Factorio, and more. They also demonstrate LibreOffice and Chrome with accelerated cross-process rendering.

Now this work is finally being upstreamed, and is in the process of being reviewed. If the merge is approved, Wine will get native Wayland support. Brodie Robertson noted that some games have issues running with XWayland, and these issues will supposedly no longer exist once the game is run with Wine Wayland.

While we’re waiting for this to get merged (if it ever does; seems like there are some concerns from other Wine developers about the driver being feature-incomplete), if you’re feeling adventurous you can compile the Wayland driver yourself. But be aware, this seems very experimental; out there be dragons.

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds More Advanced HDR Options, Mapping Support for DualSense Edge

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 22:45:09 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed shortcuts regression in this beta when users or 3rd party utilities add command line parameters to the shortcut exe path
Move advanced HDR options to Developer Settings
Streamable games are now included in the Ready to play game filter, though the default action is still to install them locally.
Game invites in the Quick Access Menu will now default to opening a context menu to accept the invite rather than navigating to the chat tab and having to hit Accept there.
Fixed crash when in a voice chat
Fixed crash when authorizing a microtransaction purchase in the overlay
Fixed the Play button stealing focus when a game is launching
Fixed Find games to play with friends not working in Big Picture Mode

Steam Input

Fixed Logitech F310 controller input on macOS and Linux
Added mapping for DualSense Edge Wireless Controller on Linux (note that advanced feature support require Steam to be able to access the /dev/hidraw devices)

Selling a Game? You're Only Allowed 5K Steam Keys

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:40:51 +0000

Got a game that you want to sell on Steam? Well, Valve have revised their stance on Steam keys. Reads like a bunch of jargon when you go to that site, but thankfully SteamDB has a before-after list of the changes made to the document.

Key takeaways are as follows:

previously, you could request as many Steam keys for your game as you’d like. Now, you’re only allowed 5K, and when that number is reached, you’ll have to get in touch with Valve to see if they’ll offer any more
if you’re selling your game on say, Humble Bundle, you can’t give the customer a better deal there than on Steam itself. The Steam sale price has to be equal to or lower than the price on Humble (or any other place where you sell your game)
Valve seems to be cracking down on low-cost Steam key sellers: “If you request an extreme number of keys and you are not offering Steam customers a comparable deal, or if your sole business is selling Steam Keys and not offering value to Steam customers, your request may be denied and you may lose the privilege to request keys.”

So now the question arises…what’s going to happen when a game dev sells their game on Humble, and they’ve reached the 5K limit? Will Humble simply not be able to sell any more keys at that point, until the dev gets the OK from Valve to get more keys?

Seems like it’s going to impact both developers and consumers alike.

Also seems like it’s a way for Valve to ensure they get their 30% cut earlier on, by forcing developers to sell their game only on Steam after 5K keys have been sold. As Valve continues to remain the king of PC gaming, and likely always will be, they can get away with this. It’s disgusting, but I guess it’s a sign of the times.

Proton Experimental Fixes No Man's Sky, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and a Few Other Titles

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:12:19 +0000

Fix No Man’s Sky VR mode not working after a recent game update.
Fix No Man’s Sky crashing when using a controller after a recent game update.
Fix intro video not playing in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty demo.
Fix Pentiment not working on desktop.
Fix Locoland rendering main menu incorrectly.
Fix Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut hanging indefinitely on exit.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Hello Games

Godot 4 Finally Released As Stable, Brings 12K Merged Pull Requests, 7K Issues Fixed, and 1.5K Contributors

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 16:54:20 +0000

Four years in development, and Godot hits the major 4.0 milestone. It’s now officially stable. A huge congrats to all involved with the development of this engine, and making open-source gaming development a reality.

The new release boasts Vulkan and OpenGL renderers, a game-specific physics engine, boosted graphics and VFX, drastically improved 3D, 2D, multiplayer and XR workflows, as well as wider localization, accessibility, and platform support.

In an example of community-driven software development gone right, the increasingly popular free and open source game engine has truly leaned into its ability to leverage user input. For the past 3 years, Godot has been quietly undergoing an ambitious overhaul capitalizing on the experience of its numerous contributors and the feedback of its growing user base.

The result: A powerful new release that sees the game engine reviewed from the ground up, improving what worked well and closing the gap on frequently requested features. All while remaining under MIT license, free and open-source forever.

The engine core was rewritten from scratch to build a more robust foundation for evolution. Godot 4.0 now targets developers and gamers who have access to high performance hardware while maintaining and further extending support for users who rely on less powerful devices.

Like its predecessors, the new release is compatible with Windows, Linux and MacOS, but it also runs in and exports to the web browser and Android devices.

There’s a quantum leap in visual performance with the new Vulkan backend and support for FSR 1.0, AMD’s Fidelity FX Super Resolution 1.0. This is in addition to OpenGL renderers for devices that are not Vulkan compatible.

For 3D game developers who previously found Godot better suited for 2D development, this might be the right time to reconsider. Shadows have significantly improved, and the introduction of new real-time global illumination techniques makes it a breeze to achieve great lighting for both large open worlds and smaller or closed environments. This is in addition to multiple new occlusion culling and LOD methods to optimize rendering, as well as a variety of mid and post-processing options including realistic light units.

VFX and shader support have also level up. Several atmospheric effects are available out of the box such as Volumetric Fog and Sky Shaders, while decals make it easier than ever to project materials and textures. The shader language has been extended and the visual shader editor is more intuitive.

For 2D game makers, Godot 4.0’s brand new tile editor is a real game changer. It’s effectively a full-fledged level-editing software that brings a plethora of practical additions such as: layers, terrain auto-tiling, a randomized painting system, a tool to copy, stamp, and save selections for reuse, to name just a few.

Godot 4.0 makes importing 2D and 3D assets very straightforward with preview and customization options for every part of the imported asset, its materials and physical properties.

For multiplayer game development, Godot 4.0 networking has become much more reliable with more stable connections, less hanging, and the option to set timeouts and limit network bandwidth. Peer-to-peer networking is available and scene replication is easier than ever. Godot 4.0 can also run in headless mode for server hosting and testing.

With OpenXR, no plugin is necessary to build XR projects and all major Windows and Linux SteamVR headsets are supported out-of-the-box, including the Oculus and Monado. A dedicated XR toolkit and a project template make it easy to get started and WebXR is also supported for browser games.

Godot Physics, the new game-specific physics engine replaces Bullet with major stability improvements, better performance through broadphase optimization and multithreading, as well as a more intuitive workflow and simplified scripting.

Godot 4.0’s new server-based navigation system supports fully dynamic environments and on-the-fly navigation mesh baking. Any physics body can be marked as an obstacle for automatic collision avoidance and AI agents can use navigation links for complex pathfinding requiring crossing over gaps, walking onto moving platforms, climbing ladders, etc.

With Navigation Links, AI pathfinding is greatly improved. AI agents can navigate to any point of interest in 2D or 3D scenes, crossing over gaps, walking onto moving platforms, climbing ladders and more.

Speaking of scripting, documentation can be automatically generated from script comments and the script editor offers better syntax highlighting, multiple cursor support, drag and drop interaction with the editor and support for various text-based data files, such as JSON, YAML, and more.

Godot’s own language, GDScript, has also been revamped for a better coding experience. It features improved syntax, more robust typing, first-class functions and signals, support for unicode characters and faster runtime.

For C# users, the port to .NET6 opens up all the features of C#10. Engine extensions can now be written in C# where only lower level languages could be used in the past. In addition, the engine now relies on source generators for better performance and error reporting.

For companies, studios and developers who need to adapt the engine to their specific use cases, the introduction of GDExtension makes it possible to write custom engine modules using high performance languages such as C, C++ or Rust without ever having to recompile Godot.

UI design is noticeably easier in Godot 4.0 with a new theme editor, multiple window support, more visual layout options, finer control of components and improved text rendering with text wrapping/trimming and access to ligatures and right-to-left languages. Godot 4.0’s editor itself benefits from these improvements.

To make localization even simpler, the context-aware translation system now supports plurals and generates translation files directly from project scenes and scripts.

One great example of the editor’s many new features, widgets and docks, is the new movie maker mode which makes it possible to render scenes and record videos or trailer footage directly in the engine.

Audio in Godot 4.0 is revised for quality and sound cleanliness. It now features a smart track importing system. Sounds are easier to superimpose to create SFX. Most importantly, text-to-speech is available to support and encourage accessibility in games and apps.

Another game-changing improvement in Godot 4.0 is on the animation front. Reuse greatly speeds up the workflow with the addition of animation libraries and a new animation retargeting system. Blending systems have been rewritten from scratch and the animation tree editor now provides much more control and better flexibility to set up advanced animation graphs and complex state machines.

Console portability is always a point of contention between Godot users and critics. It comes down to Godot’s commitment to remain open-source. Any extension of console support would require incorporating console manufacturer’s devkits which are hardly ever open source.

This said, W4 Games, a new company created by Godot Engine veterans is developing a free and easy solution for console ports. According to Godot Lead developer Juan Linietsky, beta access is coming soon.

Godot 4.0 is free to download, use and modify.

Once again, big congrats to the developers of this huge release. Time to break out the champagne.

All images used in this article are credit of the Godot team.

Finally, You Can Enable Audio on Deck with Distros Outside of SteamOS

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 22:41:18 +0000

EDIT (3/5/2023): accusations from the maintainer of the acp5x-ucm-files repo regarding Valve not upstreaming the ALSA UCM configurations are not true. This comment has been removed from the article.

One long-standing issue that the Steam Deck has had with support of distributions other than SteamOS is the lack of audio. But someone finally figured out how to patch audio support in.

This is thanks to OpenSD – one of their repos is acp5x-ucm-files. This will “temporarily provide some missing ALSA UCM configuration files needed to fix the audio on the ACP5x which the Steam Deck uses.”

Basically, all you need to do after cloning the repo is copy the files from alsa into the distro’s alsa directory, which on Arch, would be /usr/share/alsa/. Or just run the install script with sudo ./install.sh. In theory you should be able to run the install script on any distro with kernel 6.1 or later and get audio support.

Looks like the ChimeraOS team got audio up and running on their distro:

Your browser does not support the video tag. Video credit: Matthew Anderson (Ruineka)

Actually, this repo has been around for two months, but I didn’t find out about this project until now.

Weekly News Recap (Kernel 6.2, CryoUtilities 2.0, Ubuntu Drops Flatpak)

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 19:09:50 +0000

Steam Deck

Wednesday’s beta client update gets a fix for LAN transfer
Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe works great
Decky Recorder now available in the Decky Loader store
you can upgrade the SSD for $60

Software Updates

Kernel 6.2 adds official DS4 support, faster Btrfs, and tons of other features/improvements
CryoUtilities 2.0 gets new interface, support for more performance-boosting options, get re-written in Go
Bottles 51 gets lots of bug fixes
Mesa 23 adds OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.3 support

Other

beginning with Ubuntu 23.04, OOTB Flatpak support will be removed
Totally Accurate Battlegrounds gets new anti-cheat; supposedly it now works with Proton/Steam Deck
GNOME and KDE to “promote diversity and sustainability” by adding payment options to Flathub
think the GNOME devs are toxic and have horrible coding practices? You’re not the only one who feels that way

Decky Recorder Now Available in Decky Loader Store

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:56:29 +0000

Great news. Decky Recorder is now available in the Decky Loader store. You can now easily install this handy plugin without having to manually download, copy, and configure permissions. Simply head over to the Decky Loader store from the top-right in the Quick Access Menu to get started.

In addition, there’s a new update. You can now choose what format the recording will be saved as. By default it’s MP4, but you can also choose Matroska or QuickTime.

From what it looks like, the developer of the plugin is looking into options for saving recordings to a MicroSD card, so that will be another feature to look forward to.

Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe Looking Great on Deck!

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 20:17:42 +0000

After doing some brief testing with Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe on Deck, I’m happy to report that I’ve had no issues, at least as far as Yuzu is concerned. No texture issues, framerate is a rock solid 60 FPS. Footage available here.

You should still get a decent framerate with the TDP limit set to 6 W, and the GPU clock set to 600 MHz. If you have PowerTools installed, I highly recommend disabling SMT.

Unlike Metroid Prime Remastered, the game actually doesn’t become sluggish if you lower the framerate or refresh rate. If you decide to force 40 Hz, you can set the TDP limit down to 4 W and the GPU to 300 MHz. You might even be able to get away with less than 4 CPU threads, or lower the max CPU frequency. At 30 FPS, you can reduce the number of CPU threads to 2, set max CPU frequency to 2500 MHz, TDP limit to 4 W, and GPU to 200 MHz. Turn on half-rate shading and you’ve got yourself a gaming session that will likely last five or six hours.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Steam Deck Client Beta Improves UI Responsiveness When Reconnecting to Steam, Adds LAN Transfer Fix

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 03:41:24 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixes for quotes surrounding shortcut exe and paths
Made it easier to accept a game invite from the Quick Access menu. Selecting the invite will now prompt you to accept the invite, versus bringing you to the chat previously.
Added ability to retrieve Steam Runtime System Information
Improved UI responsiveness when reconnecting to Steam

Local Network Transfer

Fixed resuming a local network transfer of a game with next download in case it was manually stopped previously

Steam Input

Fixed crash exiting deadzone visualization
Fixed the physical input visualization only looking at the first connected controller
Fixed rumble for Nintendo Joy-Con controllers
Added support for the Razer Wolverine V2 controllers
Added the ability to reset the device input mapping in new Big Picture
Added the ability to install and uninstall the Windows Xbox Enhanced Features driver to the new Big Picture controller settings
Updated the Xbox Enhanced Features driver with the following changes:
- Added support for Xbox Series X controllers connected via the Xbox Wireless Adapter
- Fixed delay detecting hotplugged USB controllers, occasionally causing duplicate controllers in Steam
- Fixed interference with the Victrix Control Hub after the steamxbox driver has been uninstalled

Remote Play

Added Turn Off Steam Link to the power menu

Ubuntu Drops Flatpak Support

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 16:01:30 +0000

As the months and years go by, Canonical is making increasingly controversial decision after decision. Snaps, Amazon search results, Unity…the list goes on. And here they’re pulling off yet another decision that will likely turn some users away: they won’t have out-of-the-box Flatpak support with Ubuntu 23.04. This will include Ubuntu itself as well as the various “flavors,” such as Kubuntu.

kewisch, community engineering manager at Canonical, explained in the Ubuntu Discourse forum:

Going forward, the Flatpak package as well as the packages to integrate Flatpak into the respective software center will no longer be installed by default in the next release due in April 2023, Lunar Lobster. Users who have used Flatpak will not be affected on upgrade, as flavors are including a special migration that takes this into account. Those who haven’t interacted with Flatpak will be presented with software from the Ubuntu repositories and the Snap Store.

They go on to say “when a new packaging technology is provided by default, there is an expectation that the distribution provides community support and is invested in contributing to development to resolve issues. This creates fragmentation instead of focusing on improving the technologies chosen for the distribution.”

While I appreciate the transparency, rather than just slipping it in without letting anyone know, I also feel this will actually create more fragmentation rather than closing the gap. Almost no one wants to use Snaps; even Ubuntu’s own kernel developer, Ben Romer, admits that they’re “quite divisive” and “a mixed bag.” As a result, if you don’t want to use Snaps, the only packaging solution that you’ll be left with starting on Ubuntu 23.04 is the native .deb package. If you want Flatpak support, you’re going to have to go out of your way to install it again.

You can read kewisch’s post for more details. Also, I recommend checking out the interview that I had with one of the Ubuntu kernel developers a few months ago; he’s very honest about how he feels about the whole Snap situation.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think this was a good decision on Canonical’s part? Or do you think it will cause even more fragmentation?

Bottles 51 Gets Revamped Bottle Dialog, Adds Toast for 'Run Executable'

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 19:15:04 +0000

Lots of bug fixes with this release of Bottles. Not too much going on in the features department, although the New Bottle dialog got revamped.

Patch notes are as follows:

Frontend

frontend: Replace emote-love with library icon by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2502
frontend: Remove Create a Bottle description by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2541
frontend: Ability to name the Bottle with special characters + duplicate bug fix by @Kinsteen in #2538
frontend: Fix various library crashes and empty library items by @Kinsteen in #2539
frontend: Gracefully handle ridiculous names by @jannuary in #2673
frontend: Add toast for “Run Executable” by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2614

Fixes

fix: Fix GTK critical error at startup by @Kinsteen in #2560
fix/urgent: downloads not working if no terminal attached by @Kinsteen in #2564
fix: remove add to library button if already in library by @Kinsteen in #2561
fix incorrect text codec detection by @StoneMoe in #2585
fix: Fix patool double extracting when not needed by @Kinsteen in #2591
fix: Invert get_file() and get_path() by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2625
fix: Error when adding shortcut to Steam by @Kinsteen in #2589
fix: Create bottle crashing if no Nvidia GPU and NVAPI installs by @Kinsteen in #2607
fix: Properly set paths for launch options dialog by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2695
fix terminal download progress crash by @StoneMoe in #2662
fix inconsistent return type for WineCommand by @StoneMoe in #2658

Other

Translations update from Hosted Weblate by @weblate in #2533, #2545, #2577, #2586, #2610, #2611
Update translation files by @flipflop97 in #2656
misc: Use media types instead of patterns by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2467
misc: Update issue forms by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2550
misc: Add information using bottles-cli by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2643
code: Add Pylint GitHub Actions against PRs by @Kinsteen in #2556
code: better Pylint by @Kinsteen in #2590
flatpak: Remove Pillow by @jannuary in #2672
Network issue template by @StoneMoe in #2588
Migrate Config from dict to object by @StoneMoe in #2464
Add GitHub Action close issues if people are using a too old version by @Kinsteen in #2598
Remake New Bottle dialog by @TheEvilSkeleton in #2505
Make sure ListView gets updated properly when deleting a bottle by @cyberphantom52 in #2596
Don’t enable Steam Runtime when switching to wine-ge-proton by @SuperSamus in #2593

See the patch notes on GitHub.

CryoUtilities Gets Massive 2.0 Update With a New Interface and More Performance Boost Options

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 05:41:40 +0000

CryoByte33 updates the already excellent CryoUtilities app for the Deck with the massive 2.0 release. The app has been re-written in Go, the interface is more user-friendly, and even more optimizations can be set. Here are the highlights:

code has been re-written in Go (super fast language by Google…the same language that powers LGC)
UI overhaul
CryoByte’s recommended settings can easily be set with one click now, and stock Deck settings are also a click away
swap size/swappiness can be individually set
new options for memory; huge pages, shared memory in transparent huge pages, compaction proactiveness, huge page defragmentation, page lock unfairness
game prefixes and shader caches can be synced between the internal SSD and MicroSD card
game prefixes and shader caches can be removed on an individual basis (useful for freeing up space for uninstalled games that still have prefix and shaders on disk)

In addition to this, the program can be used entirely via the CLI. Useful for quickly applying settings without having to use the GUI.

If none of this stuff sounds familiar to you, I highly recommend checking out CryoByte’s video; he goes over everything with the new version, and explains what each setting does.

Check out the GitHub for more info. And while you’re at it, subscribe to his YouTube channel, and maybe even support him. He put a ton of work into this new release, after all.

Kernel 6.2 Adds Official DualShock 4 Support, Stable Intel Arc GPU Graphics

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 03:40:39 +0000

Kernel 6.2, released just a few hours ago, is quite a feature-packed release. As fast as Btrfs speeds got with 6.1, the file system is even faster with 6.2, and it’s also been improved as far as reliability, apparently. Raspberry Pi gets 4K display support at 60 Hz, Intel’s DG2/Alchemist GPUs are now declared “stable,” DS4 pads have official driver support, and plenty of other goodies with this release.

There’s too many changes to list, but here are some highlights:

Arc GPU graphics are now stable; they’re no longer behind a module flag
initial RTX 30 series support in Nouveau, but unsurprisingly performance is terrible (good thing we have NVK in the works)
official DualShock 4 support (uses official driver rather than the community-maintained one)
OneXPlayer sensor and fan driver support
RISC-V: support for persistent memory devices
power savings for Intel Alder Lake N and Raptor Lake P CPUs
4K/60 Hz support for Raspberry Pi
Btrfs: performance and reliability improvements
Ext4: clean-ups and bug fixes
exFAT: faster file/directory creation
USB4 wake-on-connect/disconnect support
faster Zstd kernel implementation
power-saving improvements for idle or lightly loaded systems
further Rust implementation, but drivers still aren’t using it yet

Check Phoronix’s feature list to get a more complete overview!

Weekly News Recap (Kernel 6.1 on Deck, The Beginning of the RISC-V Era, D8VK)

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 18:10:01 +0000

Going over two weeks’ worth of info since I missed last weekend, so let’s get right to it!

Steam Deck

stable update adds fast jump by letter, settings for initial OSK position
beta update adds LAN game transfer support between desktop and Deck
you can customize the theme, BGM, and SFX
- going along with this, you can also add your own BGM/SFX
you can record the screen with Decky-Recorder
SteamOS 3.5 is getting SMT disabled support and kernel 6.1
overclocking the RAM speed? It’s possible, but I don’t recommend it
Framework temporarily offered 2 TB drives, but unsurprisinly they sold out fairly quickly
seems like kernel 6.3 will be getting Deck controller interface support

Native Games

I went over a Metroidvania called Clunky Hero – in some ways it’s funny, in other ways it’s frustrating
strangely enough, Bioshock Infinite gets a Linux fix

Hardware

VisionFive 2 appears to be the RISC-V moment that Raspberry Pi started for ARM
Phoronix benchmarks the RTX 4080/4090

Software Updates

ChimeraOS 39 adds new splash animation on boot and uses the new BPM by default
GE-Proton 7-49 adds Ubisoft Connect launcher fix
winesapOS 3.2.1 switches to SteamOS 3.4 repo names and decreases the swappiness level
Wine 8.2 adds codec support for Indeo IV50, fixes keyboard glitch with FFXI
Proton Experimental 2.16.2023 fixes multiplayer in Age of Empires III, improves monitor names in Hogwarts Legacy, and fixes keyboard input with Wild Hearts
KDE Plasma 5.27 is a massive update that apparently brings Deck improvements
Box64 can now apparently run the full Steam for Linux client on ARM devices
Godot 4.0 releases the first release candidate

Metroid Prime Remastered

plays great on Deck; just make sure if you’re using Yuzu to switch to docked mode (hold Start and then press Up on the D-pad)
an already fantastic game was made even more fantastic; here’s my thoughts
I have Steam Deck gameplay on Ryujinx, Yuzu, and compared both emulators
sound effects and music on Deck? Yup, I put that in there
can you tell I’m a bit of a Metroid fan?

Other

old BPM is being retired
- in tandem with this, Steam for Linux is now 10 years old
I had an interview with Luke Short, the main developer behind the excellent winesapOS distribution
D8VK aims to bring Direct3D 8 support to DXVK with older titles
we should no longer be getting shader cache downloaded and compiled on every reboot

Cover image credit: Nirav Patel from Framework

You Can Overclock Your Deck's RAM Speed

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 04:03:03 +0000

Reddit user Me2151 figured out how to overclock the Deck’s RAM from the default 2750 MHz (5500 MT/s) to 3200 MHz (6400 MT/s). Basically, all it took was downloading and flashing an advanced BIOS utility to a flash drive, booting to said drive via a USB-C dock, and configuring the DRAM timing configuration.

However, there’s a strong warning:

This guide uses a tool that CAN brick your Deck if used incorrectly. I am not responsible for any damage caused by this guide nor is Valve. If you choose to use this tool and brick your Deck do not expect Valve to repair for free as this would most likely void your warranty. There ARE ways to unbrick your Deck however you need the knowledge and tools(ch421a programmer) yourself. I will not help you.

I really don’t think it’s worth risking your Deck’s PCB getting bricked. If you do manage to successfully overclock the RAM, though, it seems there are small performance improvements:

Funny enough, yesterday I was able to see the GitHub page for the BIOS utility. Going to that same page now, though, you’ll get a server error. Probably didn’t take long for people to complain about broken Steam Decks, enough to the point where the developer decided to remove the project (that’s just my guess).

You also have to consider the battery as well. It’s short enough as it is; overclocking the RAM will likely cause it to be consumed even faster. But, if you’re feeling brave enough, and maybe you have a spare Deck that you can experiment with, you can follow their guide.

All images are credit of u/Me2151

ChimeraOS 39 Switches to New BPM By Default, Adds New Boot Splash Animation

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 03:18:40 +0000

Leave it up to my favorite gaming distro, ChimeraOS, to continue with its trend of being more awesome as the months go by.

First thing’s up, the distro now resorts to the new Big Picture Mode as the default interface (the devs are sad about old BPM going away). But this is good timing, as fortunately the beta desktop Steam client just got updated with improved NVIDIA GPU support. So hopefully NVIDIA users won’t have a sluggish experience navigating through the menus. ChimeraOS 39 also comes with a new splash animation on boot.

What’s nice is, system updates are fully integrated in the new BPM. How the ChimeraOS team figured that out is beyond me, but I tip my hat to them. That probably wasn’t an easy task.

Other features are as follows:

Nintendo DS support was added
the install media has been updated with new system repair/recovery functionality
improved Intel GPU support
stability improvements to Hogwarts Legacy and “possibly other games”

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Animation design is brought to you by Mark Tolle

Package updates:

kernel: 6.1.11
Mesa: 22.3.4
NVIDIA driver: 525.89.02 (adds a fix for banding/flickering of color gradients on DisplayPort monitors)

Fixes:

custom launch options/Steam Input settings should now be properly applied
improved Flatpak desktop integration
certain Intel/NVIDIA combos should no longer have a boot failure
overheating issues on some handhelds (particularly with Ryzen processors) has been resolved by having their “T-junction” temperature set to 95 degrees C automatically

Other changes:

non-Steam shortcuts that weren’t created with the Chimera web app should be preserved
“improved stuttering” for gyro controls and swapped default button mappings for QAM and Guide buttons on OneXPlayer and AOKZOE devices via HandyGCCS (Handheld Game Console Controller Support for Linux)
removable media gets checked for compatibility when formatting
the split_lock_detect kernel parameter is now set to off by default

Pretty exciting release! You should really give it a try. Patch notes available on GitHub.

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds LAN Game Transfer, Improves BPM Performance on Desktop with NVIDIA GPUs

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 21:45:50 +0000

New beefy update out for beta users. But keep in mind some of these patch notes are specific to the desktop client.

As had been revealed back in January, local transfer of games between your desktop and Deck are now a reality. The patch notes mention both clients must be opted into Steam Beta, and is only available between PC to Deck, or PC to PC.

Good news for those of you with NVIDIA GPUs. Seems like performance has been improved in the new Big Picture Mode. Guess you won’t have to use the old BPM anymore.

Patch notes, listed below, can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed some issues where focus was lost after exiting a game
Improved performance in Big Picture Mode when using Nvidia GPUs
Reduced flashing in background when scrolling through games on home screen

Local Network Game Transfers

Added new feature that allows Steam users to copy existing Steam game installation and update files from one PC to another over a local area network, without having to download and install from a Steam content server on the internet. This reduces internet traffic and can speed up installs or updates.
This feature is currently only PC - PC or PC - Steam Deck, and both sender and receiver must be opted into Steam Beta.
Steam users have control over who files can be sent to: self only, friends only, or everyone. The default setting is self only.
More info about this new feature can be found here.

Steam Input

Added a loading throbber when waiting on Steam Cloud to update
Improved the latency of querying the workshop in the Configuration Browser and fix issues with configurations popping-in or opening the wrong tab because results weren’t fully received
Added a loading throbber that shows while the Configuration Browser workshop query is running

Desktop Mode: Steam

Added UI that temporarily takes over the What’s New section of the Library when pre-purchased games are available to pre-load or install and play
Added UI at startup for account selection
Added a sign out option to the main menu that removes credentials for the signed in account from the machine
Fixed a crash when the OS is notifying Steam that it should shutdown
Improved performance of games when using Steam Workshop APIs
Refreshed the profile games page with a new style and improved performance

Desktop Mode: Big Picture

Fixed issue where the old BPM on-screen keyboard would appear at the same time as the new BPM virtual keyboard
Fixed issue where user could not re-enter a context submenu after backing out of it.

Proton Experimental Fixes Multiplayer in Age of Empires III, Improves Monitor Names in Hogwarts Legacy

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 21:31:29 +0000

Hogwarts Legacy fans, know that you haven’t been ignored if you’re running the game with multiple monitors (and run X11). Names of the monitors in the settings menu has been ‘improved.’ Also, multiplayer for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition has been fixed. Lastly, keyboard input issues with Wild Hearts has been fixed.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Avalance Software/Warner Bros. Games

Wine 8.2 Adds Indeo IV50 Codec Support, Fixes Keyboard Glitch with Final Fantasy XI

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 21:10:24 +0000

Wine 8.2 just released, and with it is 22 bug fixes, “better debug information” in Wow64 mode, Indeo IV50 codec support, Wow64 thunks in the WPCAP library, and “monitor names set from EDID data.” Some other features have made it in as well.

Bug fixes are as follows (gaming-related fixes are in bold):

The Void crashes with builtin d3dx9_36 (needs D3DXFillCubeTextureTX() to return S_OK)
vbscript fails to compile when colon follows Else in If…Else
GOG Heroes of Might and Magic IV crashes on launch
Switching active window (alt+tab or otherwise) away from Final Fantasy XI causes keyboard keys to remain pressed
Regression: Visual Studio 2005 “package load failure”
STDOUT lost from a forked program on Cygwin/MSYS2
SubLab VST3 plugin fails to register (needs Windows.System.Profile.SystemManufacturers.SmbiosInformation)
New typelib marshaller depends on IID_IDispatch support from target interface
opengl32:opengl - test_copy_context() crashes on w11pro64_nv
d3dcompiler_43:hlsl_d3d11 & d3dcompiler_47:hlsl_d3d11 - test_trig() fails on w11pro64_nv
Rich Edit inserts newly composed text at wrong position when system IME composition ends while a selection is active
loader won’t launch from PATH unless named “wine”
vbscript memory leak in For Each with SafeArray as group
vbscript memory leaks in interp_redim_preserve
vbscript memory leaks in Global_Split
Wrong version value is returned from win32_operatingsystem on win10 (regression)
dbghelp:dbghelp - The 64-bit test_modules() fails on Windows 7
user32:msg - test_message_conversion()’s broadcast test fails on Windows 7 and 10
getenv_s returns the wrong value
VarAbs() does not handle BSTR arguments correctly
vbscript fails to compile when statement follows ElseIf
vbscript fails to compile concat when used without space and expression begins with H

See the patch notes at WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Square Enix

An Interview with Luke Short, Creator of WinesapOS

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 16:25:29 +0000

There’s a few SteamOS-based distros around the block. One that you might not be aware of is winesapOS – which, at the time of writing this, has over 500 stars on GitHub. I wanted to get in touch with the main developer, Luke Short – the person who helped me get in touch with Intel regarding their Optane SSD – and discuss what exactly the distro does, and why a person might use it over other gaming-oriented distributions. More importantly, I also wanted to get his thoughts on what it’s like maintaining a distro that uses SteamOS packages – the common theme that I’m seeing, not just with winesapOS, is that it’s kind of a royal pain in the arse to stay up-to-date and make sure none of the packages break.

TL;DR

Luke Short is a solutions engineer at VMware and works on Kubernetes. Outside of his job, he works on winesapOS
winesapOS started out as a shell script for running commands to install Arch Linux, and to add Linux support to Macs
winesapOS has been around close to three years, and was the first distro to be based on SteamOS 3
advantages of winesapOS: portable, Mac support, and test-driven development
one full-time dev and two part-time
other than lack of sound, winesapOS support on Deck is great
the Steam Deck: “a game changer for the industry”
the most difficult part of maintaining the distro: packages need to be manually tested when SteamOS gets updated to make sure they don’t break anything
short-term goals: major upgrade support. Long-term: support for ARM devices

Explain who you are, what you do, and why you founded winesapOS.

My name is Luke Short. At my day job, I’m a Solutions Engineer at VMware working on cloud technologies such as Kubernetes. My focus is on enabling companies to automate and scale their applications while adopting cloud-native practices. The ultimate goal is to give teams more time to work on things that matter such as mission critical applications.

Historically, online I’ve actually been known as “the Chromebook guy” who reported on various Linux gaming news in the ChromeOS space. I used to do a lot of freelance writing for places such as Android Police and Chrome Unboxed. Nowadays, a lot of my energy outside of my day job is directed towards winesapOS.

My operating system started off as an experiment. Could I automate installing Linux, make it portable, and get it running perfectly on Macs? Halo: The Master Chief Collection had just come out for PC and it worked on Proton! My best friend and I love Halo and, for the first time since our childhood, we could play together again! Except he had a Mac. macOS couldn’t play Halo. Not even through CrossOver at the time. Adding insult to injury, his Mac even had an AMD discrete graphics card! I knew that installing Arch Linux was just a bunch of commands. I thought: “What if I took those commands and put them into a shell script?” Thusly, the experiment started and worked! It has grown massively since then.

What is the significance of the name “winesapOS,” and how long has the project been around?

The word “winesap” is actually a type of apple. Since the original goal was to work on Macs, it seemed like a fitting name. Most people will be surprised to know that winesapOS has been around for almost three years now. What really put us on the map is that we were the first Linux distribution to ever be based on SteamOS 3. I did a lot of planning after the Steam Deck’s announcement to prepare winesapOS for the switch from Manjaro to SteamOS. All of that hard work paid off once the Steam Deck launched and the source code was available. It was an easy transition that took only a few weeks.

Image credit: Gardener Direct

Why might a person want to use winesapOS? Can you explain the benefits it has over other distributions?

Portable and persistent storage. Our operating system was built from the ground-up to be portable. You can flash it to an external drive and take it with you on the go. All new files and changes will be saved upon reboots. With that being said, most of our users actually use it on an internal drive.

Mac support. We provide lots of third-party drives for the best experience on Macs. By using winesapOS, you can turn any Mac into a gaming machine with the power of Linux!

Image credit: Luke Short

Test-driven development (TDD). Unlike most other Linux distributions, winesapOS was built from the ground-up with TDD. That translates to a stable operating system since we have automated testing. When something breaks, I know about it immediately. Thanks to the community, we now have a continuous integration (CI) pipeline to test every single commit.

What role do you play as far as development of the distro? How many people actively contribute to the code?

I am the main developer of winesapOS. Besides code, I am passionate about documentation and project planning. I use feedback and advice from the community to drive the development of winesapOS.

Here are some fun metrics about our project:

Full-time developers: 1
Part-time developers: 2
Participaints for bug and feature requests: around 25
Commits: almost one thousand
Users: a few thousand (estimated)

We have also worked with other operating systems such as Batocera, HoloISO, and PS4Linux to share our learnings.

How is compatibility with winesapOS on the Steam Deck?

Overall, it’s great! Since we are based on SteamOS, we inherit the same drivers. One problem is that getting the internal speakers to work is very tricky. Valve has not upstreamed all of their Steam Deck hardware support and setting up the drivers on our fork is tricky. Where distributions such as HoloISO try to be as close to SteamOS as possible, we try to take the SteamOS formula and improve upon it from the ground-up. This leads to occasional caveats including lack of sound support.

Image credit: Luke Short

Speaking of the Steam Deck, what are you thoughts on the device?

The Steam Deck is literally a game changer for the industry and Linux gaming community. My gaming computer has dusted away as I prefer to play games on the couch or in bed. I’ve gotten a bunch of my friends on the Steam Deck bandwagon and we’re all loving it so far. I’m excited to see what the next generation of portable PCs will be like!

Since winesapOS is based on SteamOS, how has it been as far as difficulty keeping up with all the changes Valve makes? Do things tend to break on winesapOS once it upgrades to a newer version of SteamOS?

The most time consuming part when Valve updates SteamOS is that winesapOS needs to manually update the mesa-steamos and linux-steamos packages. These are hosted on the Arch Linux User Repository (AUR) with tweaks to allow them to build and work on a wide range of generic hardware (not just the Steam Deck). We then need to run various tests to make sure they still work on the latest rolling Arch Linux release. I’m investigating a few different ways of automating all of this.

When Valve released SteamOS 3.4, they decided to randomly change all of the repository names. This broke all Linux distributions using their repositories, including ours. This has been fixed in our winesapOS 3.2.1 release. More communication from Valve in the future would be greatly appreciated from the community.

Image credit: Luke Short’s wife

People ask me all the time if it’s worth it to use the special packages from SteamOS. After using them for a year, I can confidently say no. You’re better off using the latest upstream packages. For example, their Linux kernel is still stuck on Linux 5.13 which has been end-of-life for a half a year now. They only backport patches for AMD Radeon’s RDNA2 architecture so it’s highly specific. In winesapOS, we also include the latest Linux LTS kernel for those who need a secure and modern kernel with improved hardware support.

Can you give us a sneak peak as far as what we can look forward to with the next major update to winesapOS?

Short-term, major upgrades are our focus. The reason I don’t go with distributions such as elementaryOS is because they do not offer major upgrades. In fact, winesapOS 1 was supposed to be based on elementaryOS but we had to switch to Ubuntu to support major operating system upgrades. That is a deal breaker to know that a system will become end-of-life. It’s almost as bad as Windows! My current priority is making sure that we have an upgrade path for winesapOS 2 to winesapOS 3. Long-term, I have ambitious plans of supporting ARM devices such as the Raspberry Pi and Apple silicon.

I’m always planning ahead and thinking about what the next evolution of winesapOS may be. My ultimate goal is to help bring Linux gaming to the masses and I will always continue to contribute towards that goal!

Image credit: @di-egoalves

If anyone wants to follow me and my work, the best place to start is my personal blog: https://lukeshort.cloud/

Though they’re a little outdated, there’s a couple of more interviews with Luke on Boiling Steam if you’d like to get to know him more!

WinesapOS 3.2.1 Switches to SteamOS 3.4 Repo Names, Decreases Swappiness Level

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 16:15:36 +0000

Not much has changed since the 3.2.0 update, but still worth talking about. Here are the highlights:

the distro has switched to the renamed SteamOS 3.4 repo names – older versions “caused a lot of issues for users”
swappiness level decreased from 10% to 1%
password can be changed during first-time setup

See the full patch notes and download on GitHub. And stay tuned for an interview with Luke Short, the WinesapOS maintainer!

Updated Kernel and SMT Disabled Feature Coming to SteamOS 3.5

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 03:43:01 +0000

This post is purely coming off of a Tweet from a Valve developer, but it’s worth talking about nonetheless.

Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned this:

There are performance improvements in the pipe on workloads that need SMT disabled to perform well. Those are being tested now and will release as part of the updated kernel we are working on for SteamOS 3.5.

So, two things we can glean here:

The kernel is finally getting an update. Griffais didn’t say what kernel the new one will be based on, but anything newer than 5.13 – which is over a year-and-a-half old at this point – is definitely a welcome addition.
It seems there will be a way to disable simultaneous multithreading (SMT), which can lead to “performance improvements.” Whether this can be turned on or off on a per-game basis wasn’t stated.

Basically, when SMT is disabled, the number of CPU threads available is halved. Only the even-numbered threads will be used. On the Steam Deck, this is particularly useful for emulation and older titles; it can lead to an increase in performance while also reducing power consumption.

In the meantime, while we’re waiting for SteamOS 3.5, if you want to control SMT and other advanced power options on your Deck, you can make use of PowerTools.

How to Add Your Own Background Music and Sound Effects to your Steam Deck

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:53:42 +0000

Keyboard and mouse highly recommended!

1. Get Decky Loader and Audio Loader

Get Decky Loader here. After that’s installed you can get Audio Loader through the shopping icon on the top-right from the Quick Access Menu.

2. (Optional) Enable SSH to your Deck

I recommend setting up SSH on your Deck to allow remote access from your desktop. This will make your life a lot easier – you can work on the BGM/SFX on your desktop, then wirelessly transfer the files to your Deck whenever you’re ready to test.

You can read this post for more info, but in a nutshell, to start the SSH daemon on your Deck, first make sure you have a sudo password set up, then run:

sudo systemctl start sshd

The service can be stopped at any time with:

sudo systemctl stop sshd

Beware that enabling SSH on your Deck can potentially expose the device to attackers if they have remote access to it, so it’s best to shut it off when you’re done.

3. Add BGM

We’ll start with custom BGM, since it’s easier to work with than SFX. A couple of guidelines as to what you should select for the BGM:

should be lyricless
it’s background music; not a general music player
try to refrain from anything that’s heavy-hitting; ideally it should be ambiance and/or instrumental
BGM should loop well, without sounding too abrupt whenever it repeats
BGM needs to be in MP3 format

You will also likely need to have an audio editor available on hand, such as Audacity, to trim the audio as needed, or ensure it loops properly.

On your Deck, navigate to ~/homebrew/sounds/. Create a new folder. Name it to whatever you like; preferably something along the same lines as the title of the music you want to add. For this tutorial, I’m going to go with something retro: Lower Brinstar from Super Metroid. So I’m going to name my folder “Lower Brinstar”.

Go inside the folder you just made. Create a new file and name it pack.json. Add the following lines to it:

{
  "name": "Pack Name",
  "description": "Use this field to describe the pack.",
  "author": "GitHubUsername",
  "version": "v1.0",
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "music": true,
  "ignore": [],
  "mappings": {}
}

Now modify the values. In my case, I would name “name” to “Lower Brinstar (Super Metroid)”, the “description” to “Lower Brinstar from Super Metroid. ©1994-2019 Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd., Nintendo Co., Ltd. & Nintendo R&D1. All Rights Reserved.”, and “author” to “Linux Gaming Central”. My JSON file would look like this:

{
  "name": "Lower Brinstar (Super Metroid)",
  "description": "Lower Brinstar from Super Metroid. ©1994-2019 Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd., Nintendo Co., Ltd. & Nintendo R&D1. All Rights Reserved.",
  "author": "Linux Gaming Central",
  "version": "v1.0",
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "music": true,
  "ignore": [],
  "mappings": {}
}

Now here’s the fun part. Get your MP3 and put it in the same folder as the JSON file. Name it to menu_music.mp3. An easy way of ripping sound tracks from YouTube, if there isn’t a download available, is by using yt-dlp. So, if I were to download the Lower Brinstar theme, I would run this:

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ieYLHc1fQ

Obviously, if the music isn’t yours, make sure you give proper credit to whoever made it in the “description” field.

Now open the MP3 file with an audio editor (Audacity is a great example). The first thing we need to do is lower the amplification by 10 decibels. Select the entire track -> Effect -> Amplify -> Amplification: -10 -> OK.

In the case of the Lower Brinstar theme I just downloaded, it doesn’t need to be seven minutes long. We can actually trim this down to around one minute and 52 seconds. Trim the length of the theme so that it’s just long enough to go around once. Make sure there are no fade ins or outs. Copy this track, paste it right next to it, and play it back to test how well the loop effect sounds. If the loop effect sounds natural, you know you edited the track right.

Delete the copy of the track, and export the project as an MP3 file. Again, make sure the file name is menu_music.mp3 and put inside the folder we created earlier.

If everything went well your newly created theme should be available in the dropdown menu for Audio Loader in the QAM. Select it, test to make sure the volume is okay, that it’s not too loud or too quiet, and that it loops nicely. Make changes as needed.

4. Add SFX

SFX will be a little more tricky, as a lot of memorization is needed to keep track of which sound file does what. And hopefully the sound effects that you want will be available as a nice .zip file, labeled with the names of each sound effect. Sound effects need to be in WAV format.

Add a new folder in ~/homebrew/sounds/. Name it to whatever you want. I’ll go with “Super Metroid SFX”. Inside the folder, create a pack.json file, just like with custom BGM. Add the following contents to it:

{
  "name": "Pack Name",
  "description": "Use this field to describe the pack.",
  "author": "GitHubUsername",
  "version": "v1.0",
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "music": false,
  "ignore": [
    "bumper_end.wav",
    "confirmation_negative.wav",
    "confirmation_positive.wav",
    "deck_ui_achievement_toast.wav",
    "deck_ui_bumper_end_02.wav",
    "deck_ui_default_activation.wav",
    "deck_ui_hide_modal.wav",
    "deck_ui_into_game_detail.wav",
    "deck_ui_launch_game.wav",
    "deck_ui_message_toast.wav",
    "deck_ui_misc_01.wav",
    "deck_ui_misc_08.wav",
    "deck_ui_misc_10.wav",
    "deck_ui_navigation.wav",
    "deck_ui_out_of_game_detail.wav",
    "deck_ui_show_modal.wav",
    "deck_ui_side_menu_fly_in.wav",
    "deck_ui_side_menu_fly_out.wav",
    "deck_ui_slider_down.wav",
    "deck_ui_slider_up.wav",
    "deck_ui_switch_toggle_off.wav",
    "deck_ui_switch_toggle_on.wav",
    "deck_ui_tab_transition_01.wav",
    "deck_ui_tile_scroll.wav",
    "deck_ui_toast.wav",
    "deck_ui_typing.wav",
    "deck_ui_volume.wav",
    "pop_sound.wav",
    "steam_at_mention.m4a",
    "steam_chatroom_notification.m4a",
    "ui_steam_message_old_smooth.m4a",
    "ui_steam_smoother_friend_join.m4a",
    "ui_steam_smoother_friend_online.m4a"
  ],
  "mappings": {}
}

Modify the values accordingly.

The Sounds Resource is a great place to find sound effects from various games. And guess what? There’s a sound pack available for Super Metroid, so I’ll be using this in congruence with the Lower Brinstar theme.

Download the archive and extract it. This is where things get a bit convoluted. You’ll need to rename each sound file to the name of the sound file found in ~/.local/share/Steam/steamui/sounds/. So, for instance, if you wanted to replace the sound file when navigating across most UI options, you would rename your sound file to deck_ui_misc_10.wav, then place this file in the new folder you created.

You can use this as a guideline for the SFX you want to replace:

deck_ui_achievement_toast.wav - Played when a user unlocks an achievement in a Steam game.
deck_ui_bumper_end_02.wav - Played when attempting to navigate and being unable to move further.
deck_ui_default_activation.wav - Played when selecting most interactable objects.
deck_ui_hide_modal.wav - Played when exiting most pop-ups.
deck_ui_into_game_detail.wav - Played when opening a game’s details page.
deck_ui_launch_game.wav - Played when launching a game.
deck_ui_misc_10.wav - Played when navigating through most areas.
deck_ui_navigation.wav - Played when navigating through specific areas (ex. Settings).
deck_ui_out_of_game_detail.wav - Played when exiting a game’s details page.
deck_ui_show_modal.wav - Played when a pop-up appears.
deck_ui_side_menu_fly_in.wav - Played when opening the Steam or Quick Access menus.
deck_ui_side_menu_fly_out.wav - Played when exiting the Steam or Quick Access menus.
deck_ui_slider_down.wav - Played when decreasing a slider.
deck_ui_slider_up.wav - Played when increasing a slider.
deck_ui_switch_toggle_off.wav - Played when toggling off a toggle.
deck_ui_switch_toggle_on.wav - Played when toggling on a toggle.
deck_ui_tab_transition_01.wav - Played when switching between tabs (ex. Library views).
deck_ui_toast.wav - Played when a toast appears at the bottom-right corner of the UI.
deck_ui_typing.wav - Played when typing on the keyboard.
deck_ui_volume.wav - Played when confirming the volume setting in Settings.
steam_at_mention.m4a - Played when mentioned in a group chat.
steam_chatroom_notification.m4a - Played when receiving a group chat message.
ui_steam_message_old_smooth.m4a - Played when receiving a private chat message.
ui_steam_smoother_friend_join.m4a - Played when a friend runs a game or software.
ui_steam_smoother_friend_online.m4a - Played when a friend goes online on Steam.

Once you’ve renamed a sound file and put it in the SFX folder you made earlier, you can then cross the filename in the “ignore” list in the pack.json file. So if you added a custom sound effect for deck_ui_achievement_toast.wav, you can remove this line in the “ignore” list. Keep doing this for each sound effect that you replace. Lines that remain inside the “ignore” list will be ignored and will use the vanilla sound effect.

When you’re done, test the sound effects on your Deck by selecting it from Audio Loader. Make sure the volume isn’t so loud that the speakers “pop”; you may need to decrease the amplification on the sound effect so it doesn’t create this effect.

At the end of the day my pack.json file would look like this:

{
  "name": "Super Metroid SFX",
  "description": "Sound effects from Super Metroid. ©1994-2019 Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd., Nintendo Co., Ltd. & Nintendo R&D1. All Rights Reserved.",
  "author": "Linux Gaming Central",
  "version": "v1.0",
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "music": false,
  "ignore": [
    "bumper_end.wav",
    "confirmation_negative.wav",
    "confirmation_positive.wav",
    "deck_ui_message_toast.wav",
    "deck_ui_misc_01.wav",
    "deck_ui_misc_08.wav",
    "deck_ui_tile_scroll.wav",
    "pop_sound.wav",
    "steam_at_mention.m4a",
    "steam_chatroom_notification.m4a",
    "ui_steam_message_old_smooth.m4a",
    "ui_steam_smoother_friend_join.m4a",
    "ui_steam_smoother_friend_online.m4a"
  ],
  "mappings": {}
}

5. Upload for Others to Enjoy

Check the submission criteria page before submitting your work. If the developers approve, it will be available on the Audio Loader store.

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If you want to use Super Metroid BGM/SFX, you can go to my GitHub repo and follow the instructions there. I also have Metroid Prime SFX/BGM as well. I will likely submit these packs soon so it will be easier to install them.

I’ll have a video to accompany this article soon.

Record Your Deck's Screen with Decky-Recorder

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 03:58:47 +0000

I’ve been getting a lot of comments on my last couple of YouTube videos as to how I got Decky-Recorder, as well as how to install it.

If you hadn’t already noticed, the plugin isn’t available in the Decky Loader store. It’s currently in the process of being merged with Decky Loader as a pull request. But we can still make use of the plugin. Here’s how.

If you haven’t installed Decky Loader on your Deck already, go and do so. Go to Desktop Mode, head to the GitHub page, and click the Download button to download the .desktop file and run through the installation.

Now head to the Decky-Recorder GitHub. Go to the Releases page. You’ll notice two versions: 0.02 and 0.03. I recommend going with 0.02 as it is more stable than 0.03. Only use 0.03 if you want to record your voice.

Download the .zip file and extract it anywhere. Open your file manager (Plasma uses Dolphin by default) and go to ~/homebrew/. You may notice the plugins/ folder has a lock icon next to it. Meaning we can’t just copy the extracted zip file over to this folder. So we’ll need to modify the permissions of the folder.

Right-click plugins/, go to Properties, and go to the Permissions tab. Open the dropdown menu for all three items (Owner, Group, and Others) and select “Can View & Modify Content”. Now check the box for “Apply changes to all subfolders and their contents”. Click “OK” and the permissions should be applied.

Now you can just copy the decky-recorder/ folder and put it inside of the plugins/ folder without getting a copy failure.

That’s it! Decky-Recorder is now installed. Go to Game Mode and it should be available as a plugin from the Quick Access Menu. Simply press “Start recording” and “Stop recording” to make use of it. Recordings will be captured at 60 FPS and will be saved in ~/Videos/.

A couple of caveats to be aware of:

There’s a 10-15% chance the recording won’t actually save. If you try to play the video in Desktop Mode and nothing happens, you’ll know the recording didn’t work. You’ll have to record again and just hope it works that time.
Small performance hit while recording. So if you have custom TDP/GPU clock settings for a particular game, you may want to bump it up a couple of notches to keep the performance the same.

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Steam Deck Checker also has a video tutorial (it’s in German though). I’ll make a video guide as well soon.

My Thoughts on Metroid Prime Remastered

Sun, 12 Feb 2023 17:27:14 +0000

On Wednesday evening I sat at my desk, watching the livestream of the Nintendo Direct. And for the first half hour or so, I was shaking my head, saying to myself, “This Direct is just as bad as the one in September.”

Until I saw the announcement for Metroid Prime Remastered. I paid much more attention to the stream. The graphics looked amazing! It was hard to believe that attention to detail could be running a full 60 FPS on a chipset that’s nearly ten years old.

Then I watched carefully when Nintendo was going to release it. Just an hour or two after the stream.

I nearly fell off my seat.

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My childhood game, faithfully remade with modern graphics. The game that helps me get through the difficult patches in life. And it was already playable. I guess the rumors of a remaster were actually real! In the meantime, however, I guess Nintendo gave a middle finger to all the fan projects – such as the unofficial remaster – that aimed to recreate the game in HD. After all, Nintendo does hate their fanbase very much.

If you’ve never heard of the Metroid series before, I recommend checking out Modern Vintage Gamer’s overview of the remaster; he explains the history of the series.

The Game

As implied by the game title, Metroid Prime was given an HD overhaul. Datamining has suggested it’s using the same RUDE (Retro Universal Design Engine) engine that powered the same game 20 years ago. Meaning you can spam missles just like in the original by closing Samus’ arm cannon as soon as one fires. Or speedrun through the final boss by attacking Metroid Prime’s core once every second or so rather than just spitting phazon constantly. However, because the remaster is based on the PAL edition, a lot of speedrunning tactics have been removed. For example, Samus can’t dash to the side with her scan visor on, meaning she can’t get the space jump boots early on. On the other hand, the soundtrack that plays when facing Flaahgra is “greatly expanded.” You can check The Cutting Room Floor wiki for a full list of differences between the US/Europe/Japanese releases.

Besides that, here’s some other changes from the original:

updated lighting system, textures, models, post-processing effects, and increased resolution (900p/610p in docked and handheld modes respectively, versus the 480p on the original)
new control options, including classic, dual stick, dual stick with gyro, hybrid, etc. with adjustable gyro and aiming sensitivity
new Casual difficulty option
some cutscenes have narration; this can be turned on or off
2x mutlisample anti-aliasing (MSAA) that makes the game look like it’s running at 1080p, even though it’s 900p
lighting is still baked but is a “huge leap” from the original, with every single room getting a visible update. Outdoor areas look more “life-like”
music is apparently upsampled to 48 KHz
subtle improvements like the glow from the heat in Samus’ arm cannon
charging the arm cannon doesn’t glow the area right in front of Samus, unlike the original

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Although it’s a bit rare, I have seen some animations that have been updated as well, such as when Samus jumps to the next level when she’s fighting the first phase of Metroid Prime. Otherwise, most of the original animations remain intact.

One of the original developers of Metroid Prime criticized the game’s doors. Not because of loading times, but because of the oversaturation of the alpha channel (in other words, it’s “too blue”). During my playthrough I didn’t really notice this to be honest; to me it’s just a door. On the other hand, this developer said they spent “months” working on them, so I don’t really blame him when he says the doors should get fixed. Who knows, maybe the game will get an update later on to address this.

To be honest, I was kind of relieved when I learned that it wasn’t just Retro Studios that worked on the remaster. Iron Galaxy Studios and several other companies worked on it as well. I’m relieved because, well, imagine being crunched, working 100 hours a week on a game 20 years ago. Imagine the shouting matches that ensued, how tired you might have been. Getting four hours of sleep in the office every three days or so. Now imagine being reminded of that 20 years later, working on the same game.

My Nitpicks

Metacritic score for Metroid Prime Remastered currently stands at a rating of 95. I don’t disagree with that rating. But I also understand why it’s missing the remaining five points. And for this, here’s my complaints.

For starters, the constant back-and-forth between different levels. That remains here. This is just as cumbersome as it was in the original. Towards the end of the game, when you’re scrounging for the last remaining bits of the Chozo Artifacts, this is especially painful. Why couldn’t they have added a fast-travel option after getting all the essential upgrades? Nope, that’s not here. You’re forced to use the elevator between two different worlds just to get that last artifact.

What if you finish the game without getting all of the pickups? You won’t get any hints as to where the remaining items are. The first time I finished the game, I got 98% completion. I was only missing one missle expansion. I was forced to look up a YouTube video for “Metroid Prime missle expansion locations” and make a mental checklist of which ones that I got and which one I didn’t. “Yup, got that one. Check.” Press the right-arrow key to skip ahead by five seconds. “Yup, got that one.” Skip. “Uh, I don’t think I got that one.” Go to that location in the game. “Oh, I actually got that one.” Keep playing the video. The cycle repeated until I finally got to the one I didn’t get. Talk about frustrating.

What about skippable cutscenes and no tutorial text? When you finish the game for the first time, you can skip some cutscenes. But I wish it was skippable right on the first run. Look, I get that first 10-minute cutscene at the beginning of the game is breathtaking. And no doubt a ton of effort was put into that. But when you see that scene for the umpteenth time, it gets repetitive. Also, I want to see all cutscenes skippable. Not just a few. And also get rid of the tutorial text that pops up when playing through the game for the second time. And entirely skip the text that appears when collecting a pickup. Some small quality-of-life improvements like that would go a long way.

Image credit: Nintendo

I don’t know if it’s just me, but the effects for charging the ice beam seem a little…lazy. It doesn’t look as good as it does in the original. Also, charging the beams require taking a few shots before the beam actually charges. While this is extremely nitpicky, I found it a bit annoying. In the original, Samus would just fire one shot before charging her beam.

Image credit: In Between Drafts

Finally, saves are still manual. You could progress a few hours into the game, defeat a boss, get a nice upgrade, but get a game over before saving, and now you have to replay that same boss. Talk about another frustrating issue that could have been addressed. They could have implemented a checkpoint system at least. So if you defeat a boss but get a game over later on, you’ll pick up from after defeating the boss rather than having to fight it again. Be sure to save the game at every opportunity that you get!

The randomizer actually addresses a few of these flaws. It makes cutscenes skippable from the get-go, gets rid of the cutscene that plays every time a pickup is collected, and even shows uncollected pickups on the map with a dot. I’m seriously hoping the randomizer will get updated to support the remaster so that some of these issues can be addressed. Either that or wait for an update from Nintendo/Retro.

So at the end of the day, I’d like to see these improvements:

incorporate a fast-travel system towards the end of the game when finding the Chozo Artifacts
show a hint as to where remaining pickups are located if you don’t finish the game with 100% completion
all cutscenes skippable, and available to skip on the first run
skip cutscene when picking up an item
add a checkpoint or auto-save feature

Emulation Tips

You can check my Steam Deck report for more info, but basically, both Ryujinx and Yuzu play the game very well. I’d recommend using Ryujinx for stability purposes; the game will crash far less often, and the audio doesn’t crackle. Yuzu performs a little better and gives longer battery life, but the game suffers from random crashing (and make sure the game is emulating in Docked mode – just hold the Start button on the Deck and press Up on the D-pad). The music can also be sped up randomly or shut off entirely. Also, when the thermal visor is equipped, the game slows to around 30-40 FPS. Ryujinx has the upper hand in this regard.

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With Ryujinx, I recommend using a custom scaling filter of 0.75x. Then you can disable SMT with PowerTools, set the TDP to around 8 W, set GPU clock speed to around 600-700 MHz. Slow downs here and there, but again, more stable than Yuzu. You can use these same power settings with Yuzu, but you can also make use of the FSR filter and set the resolution scale to 0.5x. Set the sharpness scale to around 85% (I believe it’s set to 88% by default).

And, before anyone goes accusing me of being a pirate – as demonstrated by some of the comments on my videos – here’s my proof of purchase:

I then dumped the game after downloading it on my jailbroken Switch with NXDumpTool.

Still Worth It

Despite the small quality-of-life improvements that could have been made with the remaster, I still love the game all the way through. As Modern Vintage Gamer put it, this is a “remaster done right.” The graphics, as amazing as they were in the GameCube/Wii days, look even better. I’m amazed the game runs 60 FPS on the Switch’s aging hardware.

The $40 price tag? Not bad at all. Hell, I would have paid $100 for this if I had to. A game that relives nostalgia for the Metroid series, a game that is as much of a stress-reliever as this, is totally worth it.

Image credit: Nintendo Life

Oh, and when you’re playing the game the second time through, I recommend disabling the HUD. Makes the game look more cinematic while playing.

What about Prime 2 and 3? Will we see those remastered as well? If so, will they be priced separately at $40 a slice, kind of like what Square Enix is doing with the Final Fantasy VII Remake? We haven’t heard anything from Nintendo about that. But I’d still pay for them.

In the meantime, Metroid Prime Remastered gives us a taste of what Metroid Prime 4 will look like. Very much looking forward to that game.

TL;DR

The good:

faithfully remade in HD, while retaining smooth 60 FPS gameplay
updated lighting looks great
plenty of control options

The not-so-good:

flaws from the original were not addressed, such as the needless traversal, unskippable cutscenes, manual saves, etc.

If you’d like to see some more Metroid-related articles from me, I have them listed below:

Cover image credit: Nintendo

Steam Deck Client Stable Adds Fast Jump by Letter to Library, Settings for Initial OSK Position

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 22:59:43 +0000

This came a bit earlier than I thought, but it’s great nonetheless, as it comes with quite a few bug fixes.

First, in the Keyboard settings, you can now set the initial location for the OSK, as seen in the cover screenshot. It can be set on either the top or bottom, and this can be tweaked on a Desktop and Overlay basis.

Second, in your Steam library, you can now “fast jump” by letter by pressing left or right trigger.

Got a ton of games? Like, over 10,000? Startup times have now been “reduced” for you.

Besides that, everything else is bug fixes, from Steam Input, Desktop Mode, and everything in between.

Patch notes, listed below, can also be read on Steam.

General

Reduced startup time for users with tens of thousands of games in their library
The Virtual Keyboard in the Overlay now remembers its last position
Added settings for initial location to show keyboard on desktop and in Steam overlay
Added fast jump by letter to library
Fixed Chord Hint Screen remaining shown after holding the guide button to turn off a controller in some scenarios
Fixed small movement of Virtual Keyboard when pressing shift in some themes

Steam Input

Fixed some inputs not showing up for the Steam Link App Touchscreen controller
Fixed several instances of Left Bumper/Trigger glyphs having the wrong background image
Fixed issue where a Team Fortress 2 Steam Controller startup sound was missing
Fixed some issues with Nintendo switch gyro drift calibration

Desktop Mode

Reverted back to old Game Info dialog that is accessible from the Friends List
Added alt-enter as a hotkey to exit Big Picture Mode
Fixed Big Picture Mode window not re-opening from double-clicking or selecting system tray menu options
Fixed Big Picture Mode window not displaying properly due to web GPU acceleration being disabled
Fixed issue where exiting Big Picture Mode would log out of Steam Chat
Fixed crash when opening Steam store
Fixed Steam library becoming unusable after applying a controller configuration

Steam Deck Client Beta Reduces Startup Time for Users with 10K+ Titles, Fixes Nintendo Switch Gyro Drift Calibration

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 03:48:30 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Reduced startup time for users with tens of thousands of games in their library
Fixed small movement of Virtual Keyboard when pressing shift in some themes

Steam Input

Fixed issue where a Team Fortress 2 Steam Controller startup sound was missing
Fixed some issues with Nintendo Switch gyro drift calibration (presumably this is in reference to both the JoyCons and the Switch Pro pad)

Desktop Mode

Fixed Control-1/Control-2 hotkeys not working in Big Picture Mode
Reverted back to old Game Info dialog that is accessible from the Friends List
Fixed crash when opening Steam store
Fixed Steam library becoming unusable after applying a controller configuration

Metroid Prime Remastered: Steam Deck Report

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 03:40:28 +0000

UPDATE: Ryujinx just got an update. Game no longer crashes before the parasite queen boss. I’m not sure if the map crash got fixed though. Make sure you’re running the latest version of Ryujinx!

UPDATE 2 (2/9/2023): to improve performance with Yuzu, simply change the emulator’s settings from handheld mode to docked. Problem solved. Footage available here.

UPDATE 3 (2/10/2023): interested in a head-to-head comparison between both emulators? Well, here you go.

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I did some testing of Metroid Prime Remastered – the official one, which dropped just a few hours ago – on Deck. With Yuzu, the game ran a beautiful 60 FPS…until the camera enters first-person mode. At that point, the FPS drops to exactly half at 30 FPS and struggles to go beyond that. Lowering the resolution didn’t help. And while 30 FPS may still sound like an acceptable framerate, the problem is the game becomes incredibly sluggish.

Thankfully, we have more than just Yuzu when it comes to Nintendo Switch emulation. I also tried Ryujinx. Game ran mostly 60 FPS for the most part, even after entering first-person mode. But the caveat is Samus and her space ship are missing some textures. Not only this, but I can confirm two parts in the game where the emulator freezes:

When you try downloading the map for Frigate Orpheon
Opening the door to the parasite queen’s room

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I have confirmed with other players that they too experienced this issue. Finally, the mouse cursor constantly needs to be moving around. If the cursor disappears – which it will after a few seconds of inactivity – the screen goes black. The workaround that I’ve used is to configure Steam Input to press Left Mouse click with any button that I press, so that the cursor constantly stays on screen. Or you’ll need to keep the game running in a window.

If you want, you can lower the TDP to 9 W and the GPU clock to around 500 MHz. With Ryujinx, the framerate still remains a relatively smooth 60 FPS, but there will be random tanking of the framerate, and you’ll need to temporarily disable the GPU clock limiter and then re-enable it to get the FPS back up. So it might be better just to not touch the power settings for now.

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I’m sure it won’t be long before either the Yuzu or Ryujinx developers look into this, but for now, this is what you’ll need to be aware of. I have a recording on YouTube if you’d like to see the game in action, but beware the sound is a little off.

I’m going to test some more, particularly on my desktop, and see what happens.

Rest in Peace, Old Big Picture Mode

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 19:45:34 +0000

Valve had first announced Steam’s Big Picture Mode interface twelve years ago. Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi had mentioned: “With Big Picture Mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house.”

Speculation had started. Did Valve want customers to buy new network-capable TVs and stream games from their PC? Or did they want users to connect their PC to the living room TV and use the PC like a console?

Geoff Keighley would visit Valve’s headquarters six months later. Greg Coomer (remember, he was with Lawrence Yang back in the Steam Deck dev conference) would tell Keighley:

You’ll be able to hop into the beta, click a button and see Steam reformatted for your TV and usable with a PC game controller or a mouse and keyboard if you want to play that way. There are some games that are better made for a for controller input than others so those will be the best experiences. But everything will be there. You don’t have to give up all your favorite stuff once you walk from the den to your living room.

Keighley would then ask Newell, “Is your strategy more to have Steam Big Picture and then if someone wants to build a device that can hook up to a TV that can run Steam, then you’re all for that?”

Newell responded, “Yeah, absolutely.” He would then say that the company has been working with the “hardware guys” to make said device happen. That would eventually turn out to be the Steam Link.

The public beta of the old BPM first showed up September 2012. It would then be incorporated into the stable Steam client in December of that year. Evidently there would be a controller-friendly Steam sale that same week.

You might recall this was right around the same time Valve was working on the Steam for Linux client, which – guess what? – rolled out as stable just a few days shy of ten years ago. I’m not going to rehash Newell’s statements about Windows 8 at the time; you all know he reported said OS as a “catastrophe.”

So Valve goes all-in with Linux by making the original SteamOS 1.0, based on Debian with GNOME, and this included the BPM booting up when the PC turned on, effectively turning said PC into a living-room console. This was rolled out as beta in December 2013.

I think we can all agree that, despite Valve’s efforts to push Linux gaming forward, SteamOS and Steam Machines were as much of a catastrophe as Windows 8. No need to explain that part any further, as this has been reported on hundreds of times already. On top of this, BPM was just becoming outdated; bugs were rarely ever addressed, and new features just never made it. (I can’t even access the “Chat” tab at the moment since it loads indefinitely.)

But hear me out: the first public beta of SteamOS, along with its Big Picture interface, is what got me invested to Linux in the first place. I was fascinated with the idea of being able to transform my computer into a living-room console, without ever having to touch the keyboard or mouse.

Of course, the reality was much different. As I had mentioned, BPM had its’ numerous issues, and there were times where you did need to connect a keyboard, or a mouse at the very least, if you were running a game (which, by the way, the number of games to play was very limited, since they had to have a native Linux client) and got some kind of error along the way. There wasn’t any way to close the game without M+K. It was kind of a mess. Distros like ChimeraOS would greatly improve Valve’s work and make PC/console hybrid gaming a much more palatable experience.

Fast forward to the Steam Deck, and Valve finally has a reason to update the BPM. It’s much cleaner, more modern-looking, more responsive. On top of this, this makes the work between the desktop Steam client and the Deck client more “unified,” so whenever the desktop client gets an update, so will the Deck client. I recently conducted a poll over on Mastodon, and unsurprisingly, almost no one is going to miss the archaic BPM. Only 7% of voters, out of 70 who participated, said that they will. It makes sense; I’m honestly glad to see it finally getting replaced with the new BPM myself.

But for what it’s worth, while the old BPM might have needed a lot of work, it paved the way to making PCs more controller-friendly. To this day none of the other “big guys” (EA, Ubisoft, Epic, etc.) have tried to re-invent the wheel in this area. They haven’t made a ten-foot interface, let alone an operating system. So, despite all the crap I throw at Valve, I give them kudos in this area, as without their efforts, we might still be stuck with using a keyboard and mouse, even on portable systems.

CryoByte33, author of the excellent Cryoutilities app for the Deck, mentioned this:

I’ve been using BPM since it released, almost daily. I’ve honestly interacted with it more than the normal client on everything from the NVIDIA Shield Tablet to an 82" QLED, and it was always rock solid. I’m really happy that it’s finally getting an update since it definitely had its quirks and was a product of its time, but I’ll always have a fondness for the mildly annoying background audio while idling in old BPM 🥲

Another Mastodon user told me that they will miss the controller interface:

The old one wasn’t great but it was faster to navigate to different sections and the loss of number values for certain sliders and some options out right missing kinda sucks. I get that it was made for the small Deck screen first but a “less compact mode” for larger screens would be nice.

So, there will be some things that will be missed. As for the old BPM ambiance, I actually have a backup of the tenfoot folder found in Steam’s installation directory; in it contains the audio files and the BGM. That way, when old BPM finally does get retired for good, I’ll have this backup as a reminder. I might actually upload it for the Audio Loader plugin so you can have that creepy ambiance running in the background on your Deck, if for some reason you wanted to be reminded of the old BPM days.

Back in October, when the Deck UI first rolled out as beta, I had reported that the UI navigation was terribly sluggish on NVIDIA. I’m not sure if that’s the case anymore, but if it’s still there, well, I’m going to feel bad for you NVIDIA users. Who knows when NVIDIA will decide to actually fix it. On AMD the UI navigation on desktop is just fine.

Why am I writing about this? Well, this article, as well as the various screenshots scattered throughout it, will serve as a reminder of the old days. When old BPM is removed entirely, it might not be possible to recover it ever again. And while I know the majority of you are looking forward to old BPM being done away with, I will actually miss it, in a way.

When will old BPM be gone for good? According to Valve’s Steam Deck client update on February 1st, it says nothing more than “this functionality will be removed in a future update.” If I were to take a guess, it will probably be the next stable Steam desktop/Steam Deck client update. For now, you can use the -oldbigpicture flag if for some reason you want to keep using the old BPM.

What are your thoughts? Is there anything that you will miss from old BPM? Or can you just not wait for it to be buried in the grave? And for those of you on NVIDIA, has the UI navigation with the new BPM been improved at all? Or is it still sluggish?

How to Customize Steam Deck's Theme, Background Music, and Sound Effects

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 18:17:38 +0000

The Deck UI is a much-needed replacement for the old Big Picture interface. But at times, you might get…bored of the interface after a while. Maybe you want to make it reminiscent of the Wii days. Maybe you want a darker theme so it’s easier on your eyes. Maybe you want to spice up the font a little bit, or have a less cluttered Home screen.

Well, this is all possible, thanks to CSS Loader. Not only this, but you can add background music as well, and change the sound effects when navigating across different options. Let’s get started.

1. Get Decky Loader

If you don’t already have Decky Loader installed on your Deck, go to Desktop Mode. Navigate to the Decky Loader GitHub page with your web browser. Click the “Download” button and install Decky Loader. There’s not much more to it than that; the developers have made it easier than ever to get this homebrew plugin launcher working.

2. Install CSS Loader and Audio Loader

CSS Loader allows us to override Steam’s CSS (cascading style sheet) code, therefore giving it a fresh coat of paint. Audio Loader, if it wasn’t obvious by the name, allows us to run custom background music while Steam is running, and customize the UI sound effects.

To install these plugins, go back to Game Mode. Open the Quick Access Menu (QAM). There should now be a plugin icon on the bottom. Navigate to it, and then select the shopping icon on the top-right. From there, you can browse and install any plugins that are available, including the CSS and Audio Loaders. Just press A on the Install button, and the plugin should be installed in a matter of seconds.

Once these plugins are installed, they should appear in the QAM:

3. Customize the Steam Theme

Access CSS Loader from the QAM. There shouldn’t be anything there on the first install besides “Download Themes”.

There’s lots of different things we can customize, from the system-wide theme, to OSK tweaks, to library icons, to the font, the lock screen, and many others. So I’d recommend setting the filter to the setting that you want to customize, such as “System-Wide”, then adjusting the sorting filter to “Most Stars” or “Most Downloaded” so you’re not overwhelmed with the plethora of options available. You can also use the search bar if you’re looking for something specific, and use the slider on the right to adjust the number of icons there are per row.

Let’s say you find something you like, such as the Wii theme. Select it with the A button, then select Install to install said theme.

This should now show up in the QAM. Now you can easily turn the theme on or off with the toggle.

Here’s a few screenshots with the Wii theme enabled:

From here you can customize the theme a bit further, including what color you want the toggles to be, whether clean gameview is enabled or not, more library icons, etc. There’s too many to list, but here’s a few of my recommendations:

center game text – by default the title text by a game isn’t centered, so this fixes that
centered home – this gets rid of the What’s New, Friends, and Recommended tabs on the bottom of the Home screen
clean game view – hides the tabs that are present at the bottom of a game page and enlarges the game art to fit the entire screen
colored toggles – this allows you to change the default blue color for Steam’s toggle options
customize the font to make the Deck more “personal” to you
more library icons – does as it says; fits more icons in your library on a per-row basis
no Deck badge – gets rid of the Deck icon for your games; I find the icon to be unnecessary
no Home edge fade
round avatar status
Switch-like Home – cleans up the Home screen a bit to make it less cluttered

With these options enabled, here’s what Steam will look like:

To uninstall or update a theme, go to the Installed Themes tab. From there you can either update a theme if there is one available (which doesn’t work for me for some strange reason), or uninstall it.

4. Customize BGM and SFX

Access Audio Loader from the QAM. Go to “Manage Packs” to download and install tracks and sound effects.

From here you can filter to see BGM or SFX, or both. As with CSS Loader, installation is as simple as going to the BGM/SFX that you want, then pressing the Install button. Some tracks I’d recommend downloading:

DSi menu music
GameCube menu music
PS2 ambience
PSVita menu
Wii menu music – compliments the Wii theme very well
original Xbox music pack
Wii U system setup/settings/Mii maker menu/main menu/Friends theme/Download management
PS5/PS4 home menu
watch music from Goldeneye 64
3DS Internet settings

SFX recommendations would be as follows:

GameCube menu SFX
Zelda BoTW SFX
PS5 sounds
Switch sounds
Smash Bros. Brawl SFX
Wii menu sounds – again, fits the Wii theme even more
original Xbox sound pack
Cuphead SFX
BPM SFX – if in the event you want to re-live the old BPM’s SFX
PS4 SFX
XMB SFX
PS2 SFX
Sonic the Hedgehog SFX

After you have the BGM and SFX installed, you can select them at any time by going to the dropdown menu in Audio Loader, and selecting the option of your choice. You can change the volume of both the BGM and SFX, so if one sounds louder over the other, you can fine tune the volume to your liking. BGM automatically stops playing when a game is launched, then played again when exiting the game, so no need to worry about that.

In the event you want to uninstall any tracks or sound effect packs, simply head to the Uninstall tab in the Audio Loader store and select the Trash icon to remove it.

Want to Make Your Own Theme, Music Pack, or SFX?

There’s documentation for making your own theme. You’ll need some basic CSS and JSON skills. Documentation is also available for adding your own BGM or SFX. Should you want others to enjoy your theme, music, or SFX, you can submit it, but be sure to check the criteria first before doing so.

If you want I have Melee SFX and BGM from the Snes9xGX Wii app; just too lazy to submit it. Just go to the repo, click the green “Code” button, select “Download ZIP”. Extract the zip files to ~/homebrew/sounds/ and they should now appear as options in the dropdown menus.

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds 'Fast Jump' by Letter in Library, Settings for Initial Location for OSK

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 14:56:54 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed a cause of Steam library, chat and Big Picture Mode browser windows showing all black or not rendering.
Added fast jump by letter to the library
Added settings for initial location to show keyboard on desktop and in Steam overlay

Steam Input

Fix several instances of Left Bumper/Trigger glyphs having the wrong background image

GE-Proton7-49 and Wine-GE-Proton7-37 Updated to Include Ubisoft Connect Fix

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 14:47:41 +0000

Similar to GE-Proton7-48, not much to be seen here. VKD3D-Proton, DXVK, and the “Proton Steam client” have been updated. Proton-Wine has been updated to “bleeding-edge.” But more importantly, this release also includes the Ubisoft Connect launcher failure fix, for those of you who play games from Ubisoft.

To coincide with this release, Wine-GE-Proton was also updated to 7-37. Proton-Wine has been updated to the “latest bleeding edge” and also includes the Ubisoft Connect fix.

See the patch notes here and here.

Clunky Hero: A Clunky Adventure

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 15:15:45 +0000

Life is normal in a village far, far away. Until a few minions, cast by the Evil One, have been spread around town. These minions capture Brunilde, Rufus’ wife, and put her in prison at the Evil One’s castle. Worse, she’s been transformed into “a blondie duck-faced doll girl.”

Rufus isn’t going to just sit around and do nothing about it. He puts a bucket over his head, carves out a few holes so he can see out of it, and brings a broom as his weapon of choice. It’s his job to not only save his wife, but the entire village as well. And now everyone calls him the Clunky Hero.

And while the concept is great on paper, there are some things that make this game fall short.

Image credit: Chaosmonger Studio

The game is set in 2.5D, Metroidvania-styled. Rufus can jump, swing with his broom to attack the baddies, recover health with food he picks up along the way, what have you. Controls are, for the most part, fluid. I have noticed in certain situations where his attack animations are missing. For example, if he attacks while in the air, then immediately attacks down or up, the animation doesn’t play, although the wave effect from his broom still appears.

Enemies are interesting. There’s ogres, ogres that are bigger than the “normal” ones, leaves that have a face and will attack Rufus, bears. Bosses might include an angry beaver that spits out fireballs. The sound effect these enemies make as they’re getting hit, or when they collapse to the ground, can either be funny or disturbing; it depends on how you interpret it.

The dialog between Rufus and several of the NPCs he comes across can also be pretty hilarious, although I have noticed a few spelling mistakes in some of the quotes.

Adding to the humor is some of the descriptions of the various items Rufus collects along his journey. One such description for a jug of farting cider says, “Well, for a minute I’ll be…ehm…the name says it all! The cloud of my flatulence will cause 1 HP damage to my enemies, every second until it disappears.” Another item Rufus can get is a mushroom. Taking this will make him recover 2 HP every second for 30 seconds, but the world around him – as expected from taking in the shrooms – starts to look funny. You’ll notice this yourself; the screen starts changing colors, and sound effects are louder and echo.

I appreciated this humor while I played the game. What I didn’t appreciate, however, is I pretty much got lost as soon as I got into the game.

Maybe I went off into the wrong direction, but the game starts off in Rufus’ home village. I made Rufus go left, and he entered into a forest. That was a terrible idea.

The forest area in the game is massive. And there’s not really any clear objective as to what Rufus should do and where he should go. So I’m kind of forced to explore this area, without having any maps on hand so I can get a better idea as to where Rufus is located, having to rinse and repeat defeating the same enemies that respawn every time an area is revisited. I couldn’t even figure out how to get back to Rufus’ village.

As such, I got frustrated within just a few hours of getting into the game. Getting lost, defeating the same set of enemies over again and getting nowhere, and having a limited supply of items to recover HP was becoming old. Items, while they can be collected just by walking over them, will disappear once they’ve been used. Your only option at that point is to buy more items from a merchant that’s scattered somewhere on the map, and if you don’t have enough coins from the enemies that you defeat, you’re forced to sell something…if you even have anything in your inventory.

It was just a bad, really bad, idea to have players picking up the game for the first time to explore this massive maze, without even knowing how to get back to where they were in the first place. Again, I probably wasn’t supposed to go in the forest in the first place, but if that’s the case, there should be some kind of pointer in the game that says, “You can go here if you want, but it’s not the right direction to be in right now.”

Image credit: Chaosmonger Studio

Every time you get a game over (whenever Rufus runs out of HP), Rufus goes back to the last savepoint. Note, however, that save points are manual. Meaning, saves aren’t saved automatically. Saving the game requires going to a certain access point and pressing the appropriate button on your gamepad. So say you defeat a boss, but get a game over later on without saving. Guess what? Yup, you gotta defeat that boss once again, because you didn’t save your game.

What adds to the frustration of save points, is that neither Rufus’ HP or MP is restored. So if Rufus only has 10 HP left, 10 HP will remain after saving. If he doesn’t have any items to recover his health, how is he going to survive going to the merchant without getting hit by an enemy? You’re just going to have to put your survival instincts on, battle your way to that one mushroom that’s available several rooms away, without getting hit once. If he gets hit, well, you’re just going to have to start from scratch again.

Here’s a few suggestions to the devs: have Rufus get a certain amount of HP restored whenever the game is saved. Or just give him full health. Especially if he doesn’t have any items on hand. There are the “big tit” rocks that do this, but those are few and far between. Also, incorporate some kind of “checkpoint” system after a boss is defeated, in the event Rufus dies before saving the game. And have maps instantly unlock the area when they’re collected; I didn’t even know about the maps until I got them and pressed the A button while on the inventory screen to unlock a portion of the area. I had spent a lot of time not knowing where I was until I finally hit that A button.

All in all, I’ve got mixed feelings about the game. The humor is a check. The controls are also a check. Native Linux support? Check! On the other side of the spectrum, however, is a frustrating save system, easily getting lost and not knowing where to go next, constantly dying on low health without having any items on hand, a repetitive set of enemies, and, well, the list of cons just goes on.

How Does it Steam Deck?

Very, very well. That is one good thing out of this game. Can lower the resolution to 1024 x 640, tune the TDP and GPU clock almost all the way down, and get a pretty decent 40 FPS experience on high settings. Native Linux support is also great to have; I have no complaints as far as how the Linux version of the game runs, be it on desktop or on Deck.

Optimal 40 FPS build would be as follows:

Resolution: 1024 x 640
TDP limit: 4 W
GPU clock: 600 MHz
CPU threads: 2 (if you have PowerTools installed)
CPU clock: 2,000 MHz
Downclock memory: enabled

TL;DR

The good:

interesting concept
hilarious dialog between characters
descriptions of some items are funny
fluid controls
native Linux support
great Steam Deck support

The not-so-good:

forest is difficult to get out of
poor navigation as far as where to go next
no items? Buy them from a merchant…if you can survive getting there and have enough coins
enemies respawning whenever re-entering the area can be a nuisance to deal with
poor save system; HP isn’t recovered, so if you’re on low health with no items, expect to keep coming back to the save point

I’m conflicted as to whether you should buy this game or not. The $15 price tag isn’t that bad to be honest. And if you like Metroidvanias, you might like this. Just don’t go left. Don’t go into the forest and get yourself lost. And make sure you have plenty of items on hand for recovering HP. But if exploration isn’t your thing, or you find yourself constantly going back to the same save point because you’re on low health, well, it may be best to stay away from Clunky Hero.

Clunky Hero is available on Steam for $15, available natively on Linux.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://keymailer.co

Weekly News Recap (Free-to-Claim Game on Itch.io, Reverse-Engineered Zelda Game, Ubisoft Says No to Deck Support)

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 18:08:48 +0000

Steam Deck

stable client landed on Wednesday, with a list too long to mention here
Thursday’s beta client update remembers virtual keyboard position, adds a few hotkeys for the new BPM
Ubisoft says it’s up to Valve to support their games
want to save some battery life? Here’s some tips
something needs to get done about the patching and shader processing times
- apparently we’ll be seeing “big improvement on stuttering problems” with Mesa 23.1

Software Updates

Proton 7.0-6 has now become stable, adds compatiblity to eight new titles, improved video playback, and several bug fixes
Proton Experimental 2.1.2023 fixes the 2K launcher. 1.31.2023 added compatibility to Forspoken and Samurai Maiden
GE-Proton 7-48 updates the usual set of tools and should include upstream fixes for the Dead Space remake
Heroic Games Launcher 2.6.1 adds new logo and theme, makes game settings easier to access. A hotfix was released shortly thereafter
Wine 8.1 fixes bad performance on a few titles and fixes the GOG Galaxy crash

Other

immutable distros are a PITA
I reviewed SpongeBob: The Cosmic Shake. Not bad of a game
free game to claim on itch.io: Anodyne. Better hurry and get it today, otherwise the price will go back up
to add to the number of reverse-engineered titles available on PC, Zelda: A Link to the Past is the latest to enter the fray

Proton 7.0-6 Adds Compatibility to Eight New Titles, Including Gotham Knights and Uncharted Collection, Fixes Ubisoft Connect Launcher Failure

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 18:23:45 +0000

Nearly two months after Proton 7.0-6 entered as release candidate, then going to Proton Next, said version of Proton has now finally landed as stable. Eight new games are playable with this jam-packed update, a fix made it in for the Ubisoft Connect launcher, and many other fixes made it in for games like Microsoft Flight Simulator, Persona 5 Royal, Marvel Snap, and plenty of other titles.

The following titles are now playable:

Note however, that unlike Proton Next, Wargame: Red Dragon is apparently no longer a playable title. Instead, a different game has been added to the list: King under the Mountain.

A total of 22 bugs were fixed:

Fix Ubisoft Connect launcher failure caused by launcher update.
Fix the new EA launcher displaying a blank window.
Fix Septerra Core hanging on redistributables installation.
Fix Persona 5 Royal crashing when creating game save data.
Fix Vampire Survivors intermittent error message.
Fix Super House of Dead Ninjas, Enemy Mind, and Out There Somewhere frame hitching every few seconds.
Fix Zeepkist freezing when using controller.
Fix Overcooked! All You Can Eat being unable to add a second controller-using player.
Fix Quake III: Arena and Quake III: Team Arena displaying weird texture over the menu.
Fix Marvel Snap not being able connect to online services.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator crashing during longer flights.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator not displaying live traffic.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator not starting after a recent game update.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator crashing when starting next to big cities.
Fix Sackboy: A Big Adventure failing to start the first time it’s launched.
Fix Spyro Reignited Trilogy playing intro video in a wrong language.
Fix Jurassic World Evolution 2 bad performance with recent Proton versions.
Fix multiple monitor support in Project Cars 2 and Project Cars 3.
Fix Korean not being rendered correctly in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII launcher.
Fix multiple languages not rendering correctly in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion.
Fix Lost Lands: Dark Overlord, Lost Lands: Dark Lord, Lost Lands: Redemption, and Haunted Hotel: Silent Waters Collector’s Edition crashing when trying to set a wallpaper.
Fix video playback regression with Chronos: Before the Ashes.

Some other updates:

Improve video playback with OUTRIDERS and ToGather: Island.
Update wine-mono to 7.4.0.
Update dxvk-nvapi to v0.6 – this update reports the Ada architecture for NVIDIA 4000 series, fixes DLSS from failing on Ada and later cards, prevents startup crashes with Monster Hunter World on Turing and later cards, internal optimzations, and some other features

An update should be available to Proton in your Steam library. Download it, restart the Steam client, and you should be good to go!

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Warner Bros. Games

Steam Deck's Arduous Pre-Loading, Unpacking, Patching, and Verifying Times are Ridiculous

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:34:08 +0000

If you’ve ever noticed the Deck downloading huge updates for your games out of nowhere, know that you’re not the only one having to deal with downtime.

Steam Deck Gaming just uploaded a video, noting that “this problem is really starting to get to me.” Unpacking Forspoken is only operating at 6 KB/s. Try to process how long that would take for unpacking 122 GB’ worth of content.

On desktop, it took 25 minutes to unpack the game, unlike the six-minute claim that Steam reported. On Deck, there was still about an hour left of unpacking to do.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Deck had to go through the verification phase after the game was unpacked. Verifying took close to an additional 40 minutes. Altogether, Steam Deck Gaming reports it took over two hours to install a pre-loaded game. Whereas “downloading it from scratch” took just over an hour.

Now let’s talk about games that are already installed, but have an update available. Cyberpunk 2077 got a DLSS 3/Reflex patch just a few days ago. Now keep in mind this update obviously won’t benefit Steam Deck users, as the Deck can’t make use of these features. But the Deck will go through the patching and verifying process for applying this update anyway, which SDG noted as “absolutely ridiculous.” They were better off just uninstalling the game and reinstalling it, since the patching process was taking over two hours. Add to that another two hours for the verification process. Even so, after re-installing the game, the verification process took an hour-and-a-half.

Man. I guess you’ll have to pick your poison either way.

Note that this issue is specific to the Deck; the desktop Steam client doesn’t take anywhere near as long when it comes to any of these processes, for some strange reason.

That isn’t the end of it. I’ve noticed myself times where I’ve woken my Deck from sleep, and seen several games in my library needing to go through this rigmarole just for a small patch, which might not even benefit the Deck specifically. People have places to go; they can’t sit around and wait for several gigabytes’ worth of nonsense to download. Now they’re forced to only play the games in their library that didn’t need an update while they’re offline – the games that need an update are just going to have to wait until the Deck has an Internet connection.

This problem needs to be investigated and addressed. See SDG’s video for more details.

Images are credit of Steam Deck Gaming.

Steam Deck - Battery Saving Tips

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 15:51:00 +0000

Yesterday I put out a video going over the many ways to keep your Deck staying on as long as possible. Below is the transcript – slightly modified, of course – if you prefer your guides in text format.

Let’s face it: battery life on the Steam Deck, without changing any of the power settings, is short. But we have a lot of tools at our disposal so that we can get the most out of it.

While disabling Wi-Fi and decreasing brightness are a few ways to get more juice, we can also limit the thermal design power (or TDP), keep the GPU and CPU speed from going higher than necessary, make use of FSR to decrease the resolution while retaining much of the same graphics quality, limit the framerate, park CPU threads that we don’t need, and even force RAM into low-power mode.

Install Decky Loader and the PowerTools Plugin

So, the first thing we’ll need to do is install Decky Loader. Decky Loader is a homebrew plugin launcher for the Steam Deck. With it, we can install plugins such as PowerTools to increase the number of ways in which we can preserve battery life. Installation of Decky Loader is very simple; just head to the GitHub page with your web browser in Desktop Mode, and click the Download button.

After that is installed, go back to Game Mode. You should have an additional icon in the Quick Access Menu that looks like a plug. Navigate to it, then select the shop icon on the top-right. From there, look for PowerTools and select “Install”. PowerTools will allow us to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading (or SMT), park CPU threads, limit the CPU frequency, and downclock the system’s memory.

Lower Resolution, if Possible

Launch a game. In this guide, I will be demonstrating Spongebob: Cosmic Shake. In the game’s video settings, lower the resolution if possible. Note that some resolutions may not rescale themselves to fit the entire screen. So I will set the resolution to 1152 x 720. Turning vsync on will also help.

Use FSR Filtering

Open the QAM. Under the Performance tab, set the overlay level to 4, so we can keep an eye on GPU/CPU frequency, whether FSR is enabled or not, and the line graph. Enable Advanced View if you don’t already have that selected. Toggle “use per-game profile” so that we can customize the performance settings for each individual game.

Scroll down to the scaling filter option. Set the filter to FSR. Adjust the FSR sharpness as needed. I personally prefer 3 to get a good balance between sharp, but not too sharp. FSR should display “ON” in the performance overlay. If it doesn’t, go back to the game’s video settings and change the screen mode, and lower the resolution if there’s one that’s lower than 1280 x 800, or 1280 x 720.

Adjust Framerate/Refresh Rate, TDP, and GPU Clock Frequency

If you can withstand 30 FPS, you can set this as the framerate limit. I personally find 30 FPS too headache-inducing, so I prefer to set the refresh rate to 40 Hz. 40 Hz, or FPS, to me, is the perfect compromise between 30 and 60 FPS, between having a relatively smooth framerate while keeping the power usage down.

Toggle the TDP limit. From here you can use the slider to decrease the number of watts used. Gradually lower the TDP, one watt at a time, and carefully observe the framerate and graph on the performance overlay. If the framerate remains at a consistent 40 FPS (or 30, if you chose this), and the line graph is mostly flat, you can keep decreasing the TDP until the framerate and line graph starts to dip. If it dips too frequently, increase the TDP until you can find the right balance. Keep in mind you may need to keep adjusting this number depending on what’s going on in the game. If there’s a lot of objects or NPCs, the framerate may dip, so you’ll want to set a more forgiving TDP limit.

Take a look at the GPU clock frequency and carefully observe the number. Now toggle manual GPU clock control for more fine-tuned adjustment. Lower the slider until it’s right around the number that you saw before. If you want, you can go down a little further than this, but you may experience stutter. Again, this depends on what’s happening on screen. Use the framerate and line graph as a guide, just like with setting the TDP. Make sure the framerate remains a consistent 40 FPS and the line graph mostly stays flat. Occassional dips in either shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but if the dipping is constant, increase the GPU frequency.

PowerTools - Adjust the Number of CPU Threads, CPU Frequency, etc.

With PowerTools, we can fine-tune the battery life even further. Go to Decky Loader from the QAM, and from there, select PowerTools. If you’re playing an older game, or if you’re playing an emulated game, disabling SMT can be quite useful as far as performance benefits. However, the number of CPU threads available will be halved, so you may not want to disable this for modern AAA titles.

Just like with adjusting the TDP and GPU clock frequency, gradually decrease the number of CPU threads, while carefully observing the framerate and line graph. Again, make sure the framerate remains consistent, and the line graph stays mostly flat. With Spongebob I can technically set the number of threads to three, but there are some areas where the game stutters, so using four threads allows for a more consistent framerate.

Observe the CPU clock frequency. Toggle frequency limits, and set the maximum speed to a number that’s around the number that you saw before. In the case of Spongebob, I can set the max speed to 2,700 Hz and still get a consistent framerate. I can set the max speed even lower, but again, there will be certain areas in the game where the framerate can suffer, so I’ll try to use a more forgiving speed to accomodate the more “busy” in-game scenes. Keep playing around with this number while observing the framerate and line graph, until you get a – yup, you guessed it – consistent framerate.

Finally, provided that your framerate won’t tank, you can toggle downclock memory. This will force the Steam Deck’s RAM into a low-power state. If the framerate is significantly lowered, however, it may be best to keep this toggle off.

Play the Game and Make Adjustments as Needed

Play the game for a little bit. If there’s too many frame dips, keep adjusting the various settings I mentioned in this guide until you get the right balance. Once you’ve settled with the right numbers, you can decrease the performance overlay level so your screen isn’t so cluttered. PowerTools settings will be reset if you restart your Steam Deck, so if you want to save your settings across reboots, toggle persistent to on.

One caveat with PowerTools is the settings will be used globally and not on a per-game basis. So you will need to keep adjusting the settings with each game that you play. Also, the “Default” button to restore the default settings doesn’t seem to work, so keep that in mind.

Ubisoft: 'The Steam Deck has Windows Game Compatibility Developed by Valve, Therefore Requiring their Intervention'

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:46:40 +0000

There’s no shortage of heated debates on Twitter. One example that comes to mind is Ubisoft’s stance on Steam Deck support. Keep in mind these Tweets were originally tweeted in French, so Google Translate won’t exactly provide word-for-word English translations.

One customer tweeted a photo of their Deck with a launcher error and complained:

Following the latest update of this crap from Ubisoft Connect, no more Ubisoft games are launching on Steam Deck and Linux, congratulations Ubisoft! Stop pissing off players with your shitty launcher!

Believe it or not, Ubisoft actually responded. At least, the France support account did. They responded as follows:

The Steam Deck runs on Linux with modifications to run Windows games. Linux is not supported by Ubisoft Connect. As mentioned, Valve released an official patch yesterday to address this issue.

Another angry response later, Ubisoft Support France continued:

Our games are available on Steam, PC compatible. The Steam Deck has Windows game compatibility developed by Valve, therefore requiring their intervention. We cannot therefore guarantee platform compatibility.

Interestingly enough, overkill.wtf interpreted their response as “that’s a job for Valve.” Well, even if that isn’t the literal translation, that’s basically what we can boil their response down to. Seems like a contradictory statement, considering the English Ubisoft support account responded to someone yesterday saying “our teams are aware of some games not being able to run on Steam Deck systems and are actively working on a resolution.”

Even though Wednesday’s update to Proton Experimental apparently fixed the Ubisoft Connect launcher, as well as the 2K launcher, I’m looking at the patch notes again and it seems like the bullet point for the Ubisoft Connect launcher fix is no longer present. Did Ubisoft break their launcher once again?

In any event, if third-party launchers died, we wouldn’t have to be dealing with any of this crap.

Cover image credit: Franck Dillies

Steam Deck Client Beta Remembers Virtual Keyboard Position, Adds Hotkey for Switching Between Windowed and Fullscreen BPM

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 04:53:27 +0000

Judging from some of these patch notes, it looks like Valve is again doing the copypasta business with their desktop Steam client, so if you don’t see these patches in action on Deck, you’ll know why. (I’m on the stable branch so I can’t confirm.)

General

The Virtual Keyboard in the Overlay now remembers its last position
Fixed Chord Hint Screen remaining shown after holding the guide button to turn off a controller in some scenarios

Steam Input

Fixed some inputs not showing up for the Steam Link App Touchscreen controller

Desktop

Fixed Big Picture Mode window not re-opening from double-clicking or selecting system tray menu options
Fixed Big Picture Mode window not displaying properly due to web GPU acceleration being disabled
Added F11 as a hotkey to toggle between windowed and fullscreen
Added alt-enter as a hotkey to exit Big Picture Mode
Fixed issue where exiting Big Picture Mode would log out of Steam Chat
Report a Bug in the Quick Access menu now links to the Big Picture discussions instead of the Steam Deck discussions
Removed UI that prompted users if they wanted to participate in the Steam Deck Verified program when in normal BPM

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Heroic Games Launcher 2.6.1 'Trafalgar Law' Adds New Logo and Default Theme, Makes It Easier to Access Game Settings

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 03:55:13 +0000

Heroic Games Launcher gets its first 2023 release, and with it is a new logo, as well as a new default theme called “Midnight Mirage”. Game Settings is now easier to access, since it’s now opened as a dialog as opposed to a new page. Games can be auto-updated or skipped.

Several fixes and other smaller features have made it in as well. Below are the highlights and fixes with this release:

Highlights

New Default Theme ‘Midnight Mirage’
Game Settings will open on a dialog now instead of a new page, making it easier to access them.
New item on the game submenu called ‘Extra Info’ will show extra information like HowLongToBeat and Game Score
Heroic will show progress for individual files when moving a game
Better caching for GOG games information
[Linux/macOS] When the selected wine version was not found Heroic will search and suggest another one
[macOS] Wine manager was enabled and it is possible to download Wine Crossover and Wine-Staging directly from Heroic.
Added setting to auto-update games and also to skip updates for a specific game
Sidebar now will resize on drag event
Now it is possible to see the download size and platform of the game on the Downloads manager
Added a button to retry the auto-detection of the saves game path for games that supports cloud sync saves
[Windows] Arm64 build available

Fixes

Heroic will block the installation when changing the platform on the install dialog to avoid corrupting the game
Fixes and improvements on GOG games setup and installation
Fix game status not working properly sometimes
Ui fixes and improvements
Several other fixes and improvements

Note that 2.6.1 is a minor update for 2.6.0, which is a “small hotfix that was causing some issues on a clean install.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Heroic dev team

Wine 8.1 Fixes Bad Performance with Anno 1880, Crash with GOG Galaxy

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 03:28:46 +0000

Less than two weeks after the massive 8.0 release of Wine, Wine 8.1 is already available. The Windows version is now set to Windows 10 for new prefixes. A total of 27 bugs were fixed (gaming-related fixes are sorted first and in bold):

Dungeons & Dragons Online crashes on FreeBSD
Multiple Blizzard games need dxgi and d3d11 dlls mapped without hole between two LOAD segments (Diablo III v2.6.1, 49286+, World of Warcraft, Overwatch)
Anno 1800: Super slow & bad performance
Wine don’t recognize Ipega PG-9025 LT, RT and right analog stick is miss-mapped to RT and LT
GOG Galaxy crashes in GetExtendedTcpTable()
Logitech X-56 Stick crashes the joystick subsystem if connected
FL Studio: Pressing backspace while editing the name of something closes edit name window prematurely
Never exited critical section in freetype.c
Device read errors logged in dmesg when running wine commands with empty CD/DVD drive, since 5.5
msi:package fails on Windows 10 if privileges not high enough
gdi32:driver sometimes fails with a STATUS_GRAPHICS_PRESENT_OCCLUDED error
The dinput8:hid output is too big in Wine
winemac.drv not functional on non metal GPUs
Free PC Audit 5.1.211.96 fails to show info in ‘Brief’ tab (needs GetBinaryValue method of the StdRegProv class)
winhttp:url assumes 0xfb00 cannot be converted to the ANSI codepage, fails with UTF-8 codepage
ieframe:webbrowser - test_ClientSite() has a rare failure on Windows 10 1809+
adsldp:ldap - test_ParseDisplayName() sometimes fails to connect to the server
cmd.exe: FOR /F USEBACKQ doesn’t handle UTF-16 output of commands.
Snagit needs Win32_Volume class ( ‘select deviceid from win32_volume where driveletter =C:’)
ListView doesn’t refresh when changing between List and Details styles.
RtlCopyContext buffer overflow
nsi:nsi - test_tcp_tables() sometimes crashes in Wine
AviUtl shows Japanese text as garbage after conversion in ExEdit edit box
crypt32:cert - testVerifyRevocation() gets unexpected success in Wine on second run
Spurious fixme message when calling ScrollWindow()
RtlGenRandom fails on systems with more than 128 cores
ws2_32:sock - test_reuseaddr() overflows a sockaddr variable by reading an AF_INET6 peer name into it

See the patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Ubisoft

Proton Experimental Fixes 2K and Ubisoft Connect Launcher Failure

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 04:28:41 +0000

So…just when you thought you could run games from Ubisoft Connect on your Deck, only to get a update that borked Proton compatibility, today’s Proton Experimental update fixes the launcher failure.

In fact, not only did the Ubisoft Connect launcher get fixed, but so did 2K’s launcher!

That’s all for today’s update. See the patch notes on GitHub.

Steam Deck Client Updated on Stable, Brings Improved Library Load Times, JoyCon Improvements, Default User Selection, and Lots More!

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 18:16:47 +0000

Users on the stable branch, rejoice that you’ve now received a big update that contains a month and a half’s worth of changes since the last stable update. We’ve got some great stuff here. I’m also glad to report Decky Loader still works with this update!

I won’t go over everything, but to start, you can now disable the prompt that may show up on some games when launching them by adding the ability to use your choice as the default:

You can then change this at will later on in the game’s properties:

Got a large Steam library? Well, “further optimizations” have been made to improve load times.

Notifications are now pinned.

Supposedly changing download regions doesn’t need the Steam client to be restarted anymore, although I’m still getting asked to do that every time I change it.

If you dock your Deck, “various fixes” have been made to the UI so that it can scale better in higher resolutions.

On the OSK, you can now use Up or Down arrow keys by pressing Shift + left/right arrow key:

The OSK can also be moved up or down. But keep in mind this only works in Desktop Mode.

Gamepad templates can be previewed before applying.

A search tab has also been provided in the controller layout browser screen.

Non-Steam games should now have a controller settings icon.

Some joy for JoyCon users, as there is an improved layout preview, properly functioning gyro, and updated behavior of the SL/SR buttons when using a single JoyCon or paired.

Be aware, Valve will soon remove the old Big Picture Mode entirely. They are replacing the big picture interface in Desktop Mode with the one that Game Mode uses. If you want to use the old interface, you’ll need to launch Steam with the -oldbigpicture argument. Valve notes that “this functionality will be removed in a future update.” So, enjoy it for now, while it lasts. RIP old BPM.

That being said, the new BPM adds a quick guided tour, an option to start in windowed mode, an option to turn off gamepads when exiting, Steam controller dongle pairing, and quite a few fixes.

Of course, tons of fixes have made it in regards to audio crackling, the OSK, UI scaling, external gamepads, desktop mode, and a plethora of other areas.

Below are the full patch notes.

General

Replaced launch option dialog with new UI that includes a checkbox to remember the user’s selection - this selection can be changed in game properties
Further optimizations to load times for users with large game libraries
Added pinned notifications for new inventory items, trade offers, async game turns, moderator messages, offline chat messages, and help request replies in Quick Access Notifications
Added more buttons to the list of inputs that skip the BPM/Deck start up animations
Changing download regions no longer requires restarting the Steam client
UI Digital Navigation Key Repeats are faster
Added setting for controller idle turn off timeout
Navigation column in the Overlay is now centered vertically to match the rest of the main menu
Various fixes to make the UI scale better in higher resolutions
Fixed intermittent browser crash when closing Update news dialog
Fixed background images on a collection on the app details page not being clipped correctly
Fixed some issues completing purchases through some payment providers
Fixed some UI scaling issues in the overlay when running in games in high resolution
Fixed a case where disconnecting a controller while navigating would not cancel repeating movements
Fixed issue opting in to some game beta branches
Fixed issue viewing the hardware survey web page after submitting results
Fixed audio crackling and loss when streaming from Linux / Steam Deck using Remote Play
Fixed a and c keystrokes on the app details page triggering an animation

Keyboard

Added up/down cursor keys to onscreen keyboard, press shift then left/right cursor to use
Added ability to move the standalone & overlay keyboard
Fixed issues w/ digital navigation getting stuck on text boxes when using a physical keyboard
Fixed some issues using the virtual keyboard Paste button outside of a web context
Fixed issue where the virtual keyboard would continuously be made visible after exiting a game

Steam Input

Controller configuration browsing screen can now preview configurations and the selection processes now previews then applies instead of directly selecting the configuration
Added a search tab to the controller layout browser screen
Changed controller mode sliders to default to larger step sizes that match the old BPM interface and added footer button to switch to fine adjustment mode with smaller step sizes
Reworked the layout of the mode settings page to show more content
Generate Steam Input API origins for some virtual menu modes that were missing them
Show controller settings in app properties game for non-Steam games
Gyro Calibration Rework: Calibration Calculates an anti-drift value as normal, but also records Gyro and Accelerometer noise while stationary, so that Always-On Auto Calibration (toggle to enable) is more discerning, and should only recalculate anti-drift when on a stable surface
Controller configurator now groups commands if they are attached to the same input
Added support for the Armor-X Pro gamepad in PS4 mode
Added direct navigation to controller inputs and modes from the preview screen
Added a specific XBox Elite layout preview page
Added a specific Switch Pro layout preview page
Added support for the ThrustMaster eSwap PRO Controller Xbox
Handle errors better and fix some cases where configs would no longer load
On larger screens combine the keyboard and numpad tabs of the choose binding screen
Remember the last active tab in the choose binding screen and open to that instead always using the tab w/ the current binding value
Added upper grips as an option for mode shifts
Improved Layout Preview for Nintendo Switch Joycon Left/Right/Pair
Nintendo Switch SL/SR buttons now show up as Bumpers for single Joycons or Grip buttons for a JoyCon Pair
Joycon individual/pair Gyro now displays and functions properly
Filtered Mode Shift button options to only show available buttons based on the controller type
Fixed an issue with the Joystick Deadzone sliders having delayed input
Fixed an issue with gamepad navigation in the Steam Deck haptics calibration screen
Fixed an issue w/ enabling Gyro for Switch controllers
Fixed long delay at startup when the Razer Huntsman Elite keyboard is plugged in
Fixed the Logitech G29 controller showing up as a gamepad instead of a wheel
Fixed the XBox layout preview page layout having some incorrect items and missing others
Fixed issue where Steam Controller joysticks would have unintended input during Steam Button chords
Fixed long delay at startup when Razer keyboards are connected
Fixed crash with games that use Windows Gaming Input
Fixed issue w/ Joystick Deadzone visualization not updating
Fixed some cases where some languages could have text overflow in choose binding screen
Fixed chord activator options for XBox and XBox Elite controller types
Fixed Capture button icon not being displayed for Joycon Pair
Fixed the Switch Pro Layout Preview not showing the gyro

Desktop Mode

Fixed a crash on Linux in libaudio
Fixed crash when taking screenshots through the overlay
Fixed instances of Steam freezing or crashing in desktop mode on Steam Deck
Fixed closing non-Steam shortcuts via the overlay when two or more are running
Fixed some errors causing the Library not to render properly

Big Picture (while in Desktop Mode)

The new Big Picture Mode has been made the default experience. For compatibility purposes, you can access the old experience by using the command-line option -oldbigpicture. Note that this functionality will be removed in a future update.
Added a quick guided tour
Added option to start in windowed mode under Settings = Display = Big Picture Mode = Windowed
Allow onscreen keyboard to be activated while in New Big Picture Mode and Steam window is not focused
Added option to turn off controllers when exiting BPM
Implemented Steam Controller dongle pairing
Prevented launch option reminder from appearing on top of other UI while a game is launching
Show icons for partial/full controller support, VR Support, or Mouse & KB only support in Library when a game portrait is focused or hovered
Detect focus shifting away from the BPM window faster and reduce instances of navigation going to BPM after starting a game
Hide the cursor when in gamepad-navigation mode in Big Picture
Fixed a rare crash exiting BPM
Fixed the new Big Picture Mode overlay being incorrectly sized when the monitor is set to display scaling other than 100%
Fixed overlay scaling when resizing game window
Fixed issue where a browser opened by a game was sticking around after closing the overlay
Fixed launch options dialog not closing when cancelling game launch
Fix the Start in Big Picture Mode setting not updating
Fixed problem where setting certain library filters in Big Picture Mode could cause those games to become hidden when switching back to desktop
Fixed an issue with detecting game windows

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes AltGr Key, Friend Profile Viewing

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 03:51:30 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed AltGr key not working in onscreen keyboard

Friends

Fixed issue where attempting to view a friend’s profile would not navigate to their Steam Community profile page

Are We Getting Too Many Immutable Distributions?

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 16:46:16 +0000

A bit of a random topic, but lately I’ve been seeing this trend where new distributions are being made (or, dare I say, copied or stolen from other projects), where the idea is to keep the core filesystem immutable, but allow the user’s home directory to be writable. And while I think that’s a great concept on paper, to me it causes more headaches than it offers security or other benefits.

Take, for example, Fedora Silverblue, which was first released to the public in October of 2018. Per the description on Wikipedia, the idea of having immutability in the first place is as follows:

The immutable design is intended to make the operating system more stable, less prone to bugs, easier to test and develop, and create a platform for containerized applications as well as container-based software development.

Image credit: Fedora team

And then shortly thereafter some other distributions would follow suit. ChimeraOS is an example. And then Valve (mostly) copied off from the ChimeraOS team with SteamOS 3. And now that you have a larger, more popular entity doing this, the idea is becoming more attractive to distro developers. More distributions would come after that, whether they thought it was a good idea or not.

Vanilla OS. blendOS (which, from what I heard, supposedly steals a lot of code from Vanilla OS). And it looks like Pop!_OS is appearing to get into it as well.

I’m all for the security benefits of locking the core system files. And as the description from Wikipedia puts it, it also makes the OS “more stable, less prone to bugs.” But, of course, there’s always the opposite side of the coin. While increasing the security of your system, you’re paying in terms of convenience.

Take, for instance, that basically your set of software to use is limited to Flatpaks and AppImages (and maybe Snaps if your distro supports them).

Flatpak Woes

Someone once jokingly referred to Flatpaks as a “pain in the asspak.” And honestly, in some ways it is.

Okay, so maybe with the advent of SteamOS 3, more and more Flatpaks are becoming available on Flathub. And the advantage of Flatpaks is that they are sandboxed and in isolation from the rest of the system. But now you have to deal with the fact that some software is just not available on Flathub. Add to this the convoluted naming scheme. So if you wanted to install Firefox, you would install it this way in the terminal:

flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

And every time you wanted to run it, you would have to add that whole reversed domain name:

flatpak run org.mozilla.firefox

No one is going to want to type that whole phrase in to run Firefox. And while you could alias the command to something like echo "alias firefox='flatpak run org.mozilla.firefox'" >> ~/.bashrc so you can run it with just firefox, that’s yet another command that you have to run for convenience’ sake. Nevermind the fact that on some distros, you’ll first need to install Flatpak and enable the Flathub repo if it doesn’t do that out-of-the-box.

Permission issues? Yep, there’s that as well. Now you have to use something like Flatseal and manually add the permissions for each app. Yet another tool that you have to install and use to make another app work the way it was intended.

“Permission issues? What are you talking about?” you might ask. Say you have Discord installed as a Flatpak. Then you want to attach a photo or document and send it off to someone. The only folder locations that Discord has access to, by default, is Videos, Pictures, and Downloads. If you want to send a file, either the file has to be in one of these three folders, or if you want to attach the file from elsewhere, you’ll need to add the folder path with Flatseal.

So at the end of the day there’s three issues:

Not all software is available as a Flatpak.
Convoluted naming scheme; running the app via the terminal isn’t exactly convenient.
Permission issues, which require another Flatpak to be installed and configured.

AppImage

Out of all three universal packaging systems, AppImage is probably my favorite. They’re super portable, they have all the dependencies included to run across virtually any distribution, and they don’t have any permission issues. Yet, problems are present here as well:

It doesn’t appear that we’ll be getting Wayland support any time soon, unless someone forks LinuxDeployQt and adds support that way.
AppImages have to be manually updated; most of them don’t have a self-update mechanism.
AppImages are just files, so if you want to integrate them into your system, you have to use something like AppImageLauncher. Even then, you’re limited to the Lite edition if your file system is immutable.

Snaps

I think Snaps are kind of out of the question; everyone and their brother hates Snaps for a plethora of reasons, including Snaps not respecting the user’s theme and taking a long time to load. So we can rule this packaging system right out of the gate, unless you’re using Ubuntu. And Ubuntu itself isn’t immutable, so…

Containerized Distros

Distrobox, to me, is brilliant. With it, you can basically run any kind of distro – be it Arch, Fedora, Ubuntu, etc. – inside of your host system via a container. This way you can install and run packages on your host machine, even if it may be immutable. On Steam Deck, this is a great addition to have.

Vanilla OS also incorporates the idea. Although it’s using Ubuntu as the base, you also have the ability to install Arch and Fedora packages on the same system. That’s pretty convenient, thus eliminating the need to distrohop.

And yet, sadly, this still has its disadvantages.

I installed Vanilla OS on a spare hard drive and I was almost immediately turned off by it. Yes, I basically have three distros in one. But the core file system is locked. Sure, I can install Ubuntu, Arch, and Fedora packages with their unique apx package manager, which installs the packages through a container. But what about drivers? I couldn’t get my GameCube controller adapter to work at all. On some distros, the adapter works out of the box. But this particular distro doesn’t.

So I needed to install wii-u-gc-adapter. And this requires building from source. So of course, I can’t do that on Vanilla OS without using a container, since it lacks the dependencies needed to install the package. The only way I can install those dependencies is if I use a container. Even then, after being able to successfully compile the package, Slippi just refused to pick up the adapter when running the driver. I’ve no idea why, and the developers of Vanilla OS didn’t know either.

The only other solution I could think of was just to build Slippi from source and see if that would solve anything. No, of course it didn’t. The thing that is a huge PITA with Vanilla OS is, even though you can install a dependency on the native system, the problem is you need to restart the OS every time you make a change to apx. So I install a couple of dependencies for the Dolphin emulator, run the compile script, and the script lets me know I’m missing a dependency. So I install that dependency, restart the system, run the script again. After having to reboot the system half a dozen times just to make sure I have all the dependencies I need, Slippi still wouldn’t compile and I just gave up.

And look, I know half of my followers could care less about a 21-year-old game, but to me, this is a deal breaker. When I come home from a long day at work, I want my software to just work. I don’t want to have to spend half a day trying to figure out why I can’t play Melee without my GCC adapter.

Unlocking the File System Doesn’t Solve the Problem

On some immutable systems like SteamOS, you can unlock the file system with:

sudo steamos-readonly disable

Does this mean that you can install Arch packages? Not necessarily. First, Valve butchered most, if not all of Arch’s repos. Making simple packages like neofetch a huge pain to get. Even if you do manage to get an Arch package installed, you have to contend with the fact that said package will likely get wiped with the next SteamOS update. All that hard work you put forth just to get that package to display your system info just went to the wastebasket.

Do You Really Want to Use an Immutable Distribution?

If this article sounded more like a rant than it was an opinion, well, I guess I’m just frustrated at all the hassle immutable distros cause. Flatpaks, AppImages, and Snaps were all made as a way to compliment additional software to the end user without touching the root filesystem, but each packaging system has their own set of quirks. Look, I understand the idea is increased security. Newcomers to Linux will certainly appreciate this, as it reduces their chances of breaking the system. But what you get for security, is what you have to pay for in terms of convenience.

Image credit: ROKKEX

As such, I don’t like seeing this trend of more and more distributions adopting this immutable file system scheme. Compiling software or drivers is going to be way more of a hassle than it’s worth. On top of this you will likely want to use software that isn’t available as a Flatpak or AppImage. Even if it is available, you either have permission issues – which are going to take even more steps to solve than just installing the software as a native package – or you don’t have a convenient way of updating the software if it’s an AppImage. And Snaps…well, let’s just forget about that. Installing software through a container might be a temporary solution, but in some ways that still causes issues. Unlocking the file system is an inconvenience and whatever changes you make will likely get wiped with the next update.

So I think if I were to wrap this article up in a nutshell it would be this: immutable file systems are good for newcomers to Linux. But for more experienced Linux users and developers, a mutable file system is the way to go.

What do you think? Do you think the idea of having an immutable file system is a good idea or not? And should more distros adopt this idea or slow it down?

Cover image credit: Dmitry Lepisov

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Forspoken and Samurai Maiden, Improves Sleep/Resume Functionality with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands on Deck

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 16:27:12 +0000

Not a lot to talk about with today’s Proton Experimental update, but if you’ve been wanting to play the newly released Forspoken, well, now you can.

In addition, another title is playable: Samurai Maiden, filled with your favorite waifus holding a katana like a badass.

One other update. If you’ve been playing Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands on Deck, sleep/resume functionality has been ‘improved’ in some way.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Right-Shift, Clipped Deadzone Slider

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 03:14:33 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed right-shift and nearby keys of onscreen keyboard sometimes not working
Fixed a and c keys triggering an animation on the game details page
Fixed controller guide button shortcut summary showing an incorrect icon

Steam Input

Fixed an issue where the deadzone slider would get clipped in the controller configurator

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake Review

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 13:52:44 +0000

Spongebob Squarepants. The show that arguably most of us watched as a kid. It’s no doubt one of Nickelodeon’s best TV shows, and the fact that the series is still going strong since its inception in 1999 indicates it’s been very well-received.

However, the sponge’s transition to the video game industry has been hit or miss. Just check Did You Know Gaming for a list of not-so-successful titles. A few years ago, though, a remake was made for Battle of Bikini Bottom, one of the more well-received titles. According to Steam, the reviews are “overwhelmingly positive.”

So now we’ve arrived at The Cosmic Shake, which, more or less, uses the same engine (Unreal), 3D platforming, and developer/publisher (Purple Lamp/THQ Nordic). And the question becomes, “Is this game worth your time?”

I’d say so. But let’s get into more detail about it. It was nice to actually have enough time to play this game in its entirety, so I’m proud to say this is a full review.

Premise

Spongebob and Patrick come across a jar of Mermaid’s Tears. These tears grant whatever wish the user wants after blowing a bubble. The caveat is that wish makes the user become that wish. So, take Patrick for example. Spongebob wishes him to have “the biggest, ballooniest adventure of his life.” That wish will make Patrick become a balloon…so if you’ve been wondering why Patrick looks like the way he does in the artwork that you’ve seen for this game, now you know why.

The Mermaid’s Tears create more havok than just that. Bikini Bottom has become damaged. Slime is scattered across several buildings and landscapes. Trucks have crashed, thus draining the town’s supply of food and other resources. Sandy’s home has been destroyed. Spongebob lost his pineapple home. Mr. Krabs and Plankton have been forced to work together since the Krusty Krab no longer exists. Lava surrounds Mrs. Puff’s boating school. Gary has become a giant, aggressive monster.

Finally, the world of Bikini Bottom has “shook” in the sense that portals have been opened to various “Wishworlds.” It’s Spongebob’s job to enter these worlds and save Bikini Bottom, one house at a time. Along the way, he’ll need the help of Madame Kassandra, the mermaid who owned the Mermaid’s Tears in the first place. But she might have some nefarious plans of her own…

Wishworlds

The Wishworlds that Spongebob enters are vastly different from one to the next. One will have Spongebob equip a cowboy costume and enter a Western-like world. Characters that you’re familiar with, such as Sandy, Mr. Krabs, and Mrs. Puff will make an appearance, but their costumes are different, and sometimes they don’t recognize Spongebob. Their personalities are intact, however, whether you see that as a good thing or not. Mr. Krabs, for instance, remains the greedy, love-money-more-than-life stereotype.

Another type of Wishworld has Spongebob travel back to the stone ages, where he and Patrick become cavemen. Their objective is to save Squidward from the clutches of the evil Pearl Krabs. Along the way they’ll have to travel through lava by manuevering a rolling rock and keeping pace with it, and catching enough jellyfish to awaken a great whale so that he can move his fin around, providing access to the next area.

At the end of each Wishworld (there’s seven, and each generally doesn’t take any longer than an hour to finish) there’s usually a boss. Unfortunately, those who were once Spongebob’s friends are now his enemies. In the Hollywood-themed Wishworld, for example, Sandy runs around a hamster wheel with spikes on the outside, and Spongebob’s goal is to make her run into a stack of explosive barrels to stun her. Spongebob can then follow up with an attack. Three strikes, and she’s gone. Spongebob will use the magic wand, blow a bubble, and transport himself, Patrick, and Sandy back to Bikini Bottom. Somehow, Sandy gets her home back this way. The process of defeating a boss and blowing a bubble to get back to Bikini Bottom gets repeated after each Wishworld is finished, gradually restoring Bikini Bottom back to its original self.

General Gameplay/Combat

As the game is pretty much using the same assets as Battle for Bikini Bottom: Rehydrated, expect the same controls: slap with the X button, jump > double jump with A, ground-pound with B, third-person 3D platforming, what have you. Controls, at least based on my testing so far, are not able to be customized in-game (although, of course you can customize Steam Input if you wanted to). The same totem poles exist where, if you slap them, they get destroyed and produce what is called “jelly.” Collect enough jelly, and Spongebob can buy new costumes to wear, which he can change to at any time. Other than cosmetic purposes, these costumes don’t serve much else of a purpose.

Enemies are a little different, however. These enemies are made of jelly themselves. Most of them are pretty easy to beat. Just slap them and most of them are gone with just one hit. Later on Spongebob will be able to do a karate kick in the air, which will automatically home in on the nearest target. This mades enemy cleanup even more convenient. Projectiles are here as well; Spongebob can cast a bubble. If an enemy is caught, they’ll be wrapped in said bubble for a few moments, unable to move. Spongebob can follow up with an attack, with no fear of reprisal.

Things get even easier when Spongebob picks up the reef blower. Suck up some baddies with it, just like Luigi picks up ghosts with his poltergust, then spit out the garbage as a projectile. You’ll need to do this with a couple of bosses later on in the game.

There’s one enemy in particular though that’s obnoxious to defeat. While easy to beat, it becomes a chore waiting for it to throw its bathtub down in order to attack it. This is a rinse and repeat cycle that needs to be repeated three times in order to get rid of said enemy. There should have been a way to defeat it more quickly.

So, combat in this game definitely isn’t a strength. To me, it’s too easy while at the same time being a bit boring. I suppose if you’re a more casual player though, you’ll appreciate this. And Patrick can be of great help when Spongebob is on his last pair of pants; Patrick, being the balloon that he is, can pick up new pairs and deliver it straight to his yellow companion.

Humor

The humor remains top-notch. All the original voice actors are here, and let me tell you, there were definitely some moments where I cracked up. Patrick remains his dumb, yet funny self, where at one point he jokes that Spongebob can “handshake” himself with his glove hat. You can create your own humor by slapping NPCs. Are they annoying? Just slap them to shut ’em up. You’ll even get a Steam achievement by slapping a certain number of NPCs. There are some other funny moments in the cutscenes, or where there is a dialog between characters, but I’d rather not spoil them so you can get the full laugh yourself.

Issues

That being said, there are of course certain moments where things get annoying. For example, I don’t need Spongebob saying “The Krusty Krab pizza, is the pizza, for you and me!” every time he glides in the air. Or have him breathe a sigh of relief and say “No more chafing” when he picks up a pair of underwear. Or “a little dabble-doyah!” whenever he picks up a cluster of jelly. And I don’t know if it’s just me, but the sound his sneakers make as he walks can also be a bit irksome. Fortunately there is a costume that he can wear where he becomes a hoverbot, thus eliminating the walking sound.

One other issue I have is, sometimes the transition between cutscenes is a little awkward. If you defeat a boss, for instance, you generally won’t see that boss get destroyed after the final hit. I mean, I know this is a kid’s game and all, but the way the cutscene is handled after that is a little strange, in a way that’s hard to explain.

While I like the idea of having different worlds and eras to explore, I sort of wish the characters had different personalities. They might be wearing a different costume, they might speak a little differently, but Squidward remains his pessimesstic self. Mr. Krabs continues to be the penny pincher. Sandy still remains…uh, crazy? I think it would have been more interesting to see their personalities swapped, or altogether replaced with something different, just to add a little more “spice” to each world. On top of this there’s some confusion – in some worlds, the characters won’t recognize Spongebob. In others, they do. What was the deal with that?

While there is a little more replayability with a few side missions, these missions are pretty bland. Sandy might ask you to find a couple of hot objects in the pre-historic world so she can heat her generator. So you’re playing the same Wishworld over again, to find these objects, some of which are hard to find. Not really that fun, if you were to ask me. It’s just padding the gameplay length at that point.

There’s a part of the game where Spongebob becomes a snail. Great concept on paper…if the experience wasn’t so brief. Just run this race that doesn’t last any longer than three minutes, and the idea never gets re-used anywhere else. It’s kind of sad as this is one of the more unique aspects of this game.

How Long to Beat?

Took me about nine hours to reach the credits. There are some optional quests that you can do afterwards, which, if I were to take a guess, would add another two-or-three hours.

How Does it Steam Deck?

Frankly The Cosmic Shake is a barebones PC port. There’s not much for video options. There’s no “low,” “medium,” or “high” settings quality. You’re just stuck with one preset and that’s it. There’s no options for anti-aliasing, and very few options for resolution. Just a vsync toggle and that’s it. That being said, the game plays very well on Deck out-of-the-box.

On Deck, with fullscreen mode, you have the following resolutions available:

1024 x 768
1152 x 720
1280 x 720
1280 x 800

For some reason, there’s no resolution options available for windowed or windowed fullscreen modes.

I recommend setting the screen mode to fullscreen and setting the resolution to 1152 x 720. While you could get away with 1024 x 768, Gamescope/FSR won’t rescale the screen to fullscreen; black borders are present on the left and right.

To get 60 FPS, don’t set the TDP limit any lower than 13 W.

For 40 FPS, you should be able to set the TDP to around 8 W. For further battery optimization, you can set the GPU clock frequency to 800 MHz, and limit the number of CPU threads to four if you have PowerTools. Keep in mind you’ll likely need to play around with these values, depending on how busy the in-game scene is. An explosion that happens, or if there are a lot of NPCs/enemies, the framerate will likely drop for a few moments, until the explosion or wave of enemies is cleared.

At 30 FPS, set the TDP limit to 6 W, and the GPU clock to 600 MHz. You might even be able to get away with just three CPU threads.

One further tweak that I’d recommend, is to set some of the more frequently used actions in-game to the back buttons. I have the attack and jump buttons assigned to the top left and top right, respectively.

It’s Fun and Humorous, with a Few Asterisks

Overall I liked The Cosmic Shake. The dialog between characters can have humor that never skips a beat. The idea of having several different worlds to explore, that are vastly different from each other, is also a pretty neat concept. New characters, while carrying much of the original cast, is great. Being able to switch between tons of different costumes is cool. Works great on Deck.

On the other hand you have a barebones PC port, a story that isn’t going to last quite as long as ten hours, awkward cutscene transitions, combat that’s too easy, an annoying sponge (what did you expect?), padded side missions, new concepts that could have been explored a little further, character personalities that could have been more unique. This probably explains why the price tag is $40 rather than the full $60 that you would typically expect on games like this.

I haven’t explored the idea yet, but since there is a whole modding page for Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated, I wonder if some of the mods will work here, since it’s using the same engine. Like getting rid of letterboxed cutscenes, for example. And overall make the game less of a barebones PC port.

TL;DR

The good:

hilarious dialog
new worlds to explore, which are vastly different from each other
plenty of different costumes to try out
works great on Deck

The not-so-good:

short story length
weird, abrupt cutscene transitions
side missions don’t add much value to the replayability
some dialog is repetitive
character personalities in the Wishworlds could have been more unique
lack of options for video settings
some concepts, such as Spongebob being a snail, could have been used a little more thoroughly
combat is too easy

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake will be available tomorrow on Steam for $40.

Review key provided by Terminals. Opinions are of my own.

GE-Proton7-48 Updates Proton-Wine to Bleeding Edge, Includes Dead Space Remake Fixes

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 03:28:08 +0000

Nothing really noteworthy about today’s GE-Proton update. The following tools have been updated:

Proton-Wine
VKD3D-Proton
DXVK
DXVK-NVAPI

Proton-Wine in particular was updated to “bleeding-edge.” Everything else was just “updated”; presumably to the latest git.

Now that these tools have been updated, they should include the most recent fixes for Dead Space Remake. Game should work reasonably well on Deck with these fixes. The update to DXVK should also include the recent 2.1 update with HDR support, shader compilation improvements, and sample rate shading.

Regarding Monster Hunter: Rise, apparently there’s an issue specific to the 7900 XT/XTX GPUs, which is currently pending for a fix.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Motive/EA

Weekly News Recap ($2,000 Steam Game, Valve Secrets, Stadia Deck Theme)

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 17:47:38 +0000

Steam Deck

the JSAUX ModCase is a pretty decent modular case
- alternatively, Gardiner Bryant did a review on the Project Killswitch
JSAUX clear case not only allows you to see your Deck’s internals; it also comes with three different sets of back buttons depending on your tastes
Android support via Waydroid on Gamescope could potentially be coming
dbrand unveils the SwitchDeck, the Switch-like skin for your Deck
Monday’s Deck client update (beta) fixes JoyCon gyro and shows more content in Mode Settings
Tuesday’s Deck client update (beta) allows the OSK to be moved
Friday’s Deck client update (beta) fixes OSK when opened with gamepad and reworks the gyro drift autocalibration
new Deck theme: Stadia
GOL goes over their thoughts on the Deck after a year of having it
more and more EA titles are getting a “Playable” rating

Hardware

Boiling Steam reviews the Framework laptop

News

People Make Games did a documentary going over the secrets of the multi-billion dollar behemoth
looks like someone found a solution for getting rid of the random crashing on Forza Horizon 4
visual novel dev sells his life story on Steam for $2,000

Software Updates

Wine 8.0 contains over 8,600 changes, brings D3D perf improvements and improved hotplugging support
DXVK 2.1 adds HDR support via Gamescope on AMD, shader compilation improvements
Proton Experimental 1.23.2023 fixes native scrollbar issue with the FFXIV launcher, improves multi-touch support

Other

Phoronix compares the performance of five different kernels for Arch Linux

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes OSK When Opened with Gamepad, Reworked Gyro Drift Autocalibration

Sat, 28 Jan 2023 04:09:56 +0000

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Fixed onscreen keyboard not visible in-game when opened with gamepad

Steam Input

Gyro Calibration UI: Gyro rotation readings are displayed to help diagnose drift issues.
Autocalibration of Gyro Drift has been reworked. After the initial calibration setting down a controller on a stable surface silently recalculates drift compensation within a few seconds. Movement Threshold values can be manually tweaked - useful if you notice drift re-appear when the controller is in hand.

Deck Desktop

Fixed Steam Chat window scaling
Fixed onscreen keyboard windows refusing to close
Fixed regression where some Remote Play Together dialogs no longer worked

JSAUX ModCase for Steam Deck - Review

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 14:45:08 +0000

Seems like JSAUX noticed dbrand’s Project Killswitch and decided to make their own alternative. While dbrand may have had to revise their Killswitch with the removal of magnets, JSAUX didn’t need to do that at all. No magnets here. Here’s some thoughts on the review sample I was given. Unboxing video available on YouTube.

The ModCase is an interesting concept. It allows you to control how far you want your Steam Deck to be customized and protected.

The basic kit is $30 and comes with the following:

protective case
cover
strap for attaching accessories
detachable kickstand
protective case for the official dock

If you pay a little more, you can choose what accessories to go along with the ModCase, be it a cooling fan, a USB-C hub, a M.2 slot kit, or a power bank. If you want you can get all four with the Ultimate kit, which will set you back $150. JSAUX sent me the cooling fan along with the kit, so I’ll have some comments on that later on.

The Case

You put the Deck inside the case, bottom side first into the corners, and then fold the top parts over the triggers. While this is relatively easy, be careful if you have a skin applied to the Deck; you don’t want it to get peeled off while you’re putting the case on. The back is semi-transparent, so if you have the clear shell on, you can still see the Deck’s internals, at least somewhat.

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It’s difficult to describe the texture of the case. There’s no description of what the material is made of on the store page other than “PC-ABS and silicone.” The case is textured on the front corners where your palm rests and on the back grips. It’s comfortable though, I can tell you that. Of course, cutouts are provided by the headphone jack, the top and back vent grills, the USB-C port, the power LED, shoulder buttons/triggers, back buttons, MicroSD card slot, etc. There’s even a little cutout in the center of the back part of the case where you can still see Valve’s logo if you have the vanilla back shell. This cutout also serves as the “attachment point” for the strap and other accessories.

The volume rocker and power button have both been covered over. And enough of a cutout was made on the USB-C port that you can perfectly attach a 90-degree USB-C cable without there being a loose connection, unlike the Funalot case. Another advantage the JSAUX ModCase has over the Funalot case is the front corners of the Deck are covered. The advantage this has is it not only gives your palms a resting place, but I’d argue it would also provide slightly better protection should you drop the Deck face first.

One downside to this case is the cutouts on the back aren’t wide enough to accomodate the click-y back button set with the clear shell.

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A nice feature with this case is it includes a kickstand. Not only is it detachable, but the stand is made of metal, ensuring that it won’t break as easily as it would plastic. Simply push the stand outward to let the Deck sit on your desk, then push it back in when you’re playing. Very fast, very easy. This is yet another advantage over the Funalot case, where the latter’s kickstand is made of plastic and you can’t get it out as quickly due to the mechanic it uses.

Preferably the kickstand would be right in the middle on the back to ensure equal weight on both sides while it’s resting, but obviously we can’t do that here since there’s the attachment point. Still, you can put some pressure on the Deck while it’s resting; it’s not going to go anywhere. Only complaint with the kickstand is you can’t really adjust the viewing angle all that much. It protudes outward by about 45 degrees and you can’t push it out any further.

Front Cover

The front cover – if it wasn’t obvious enough already – keeps your screen protected. Inside is a rectangular piece of foam that goes over the screen when it’s applied. There’s also a label for instructions on how to put the cover on or take it off. When putting it on, you align the top part first, then press down on the bottom. Then when you take it off, do the reverse: lift the bottom up first. If you do this with enough force the entire cover should be lifted off.

With both this and the back part of the case attached, you basically have a complete case for your Deck. Insertions are provided where the thumbsticks are so that the cover stays secure. Cutouts are still provided for the power button/LED, USB-C port, and volume rocker. The top vent grills are covered. So if you’re out in the rain, you’ll have most of your Deck protected. Just don’t turn it upside down since the back vent holes aren’t covered. Don’t tilt it upwards either since the cutouts can let liquid seep into the USB-C port.

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Kind of curious why they left the volume rocker exposed. I guess if you were playing music or something you could adjust the volume while the screen is covered. But it makes sense to have the USB-C port exposed so that you can charge the device while simultaneously protecting it.

The cover isn’t super secure. There’s a little bit of leeway towards the top where the triggers are. Not enough where you could accidentally have the cover pried off, but just something to be aware of.

The Strap

Ah. The thing that I’ve been making a meme about since it looks so much like a watch. Just put a LED screen in there and you’ve got a working watch that you can take with you on the go. Or just attach your wrist along with your Deck and now you’ve got some serious power packed into your arm.

In any event, the strap doesn’t use magnets. No adhesives either, meaning no sticky residue left behind. No harm done to your Deck. You just slide the “watch” part of the strap into the attachment point on the back of the case, and from there you can strap on whatever accessory you want. The most common example I can think of is a power bank. Or maybe a USB-C dock.

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While the strap does make the accessory secure, it’s a bit of a pain trying to apply it. Say you put in a power bank. You wrap the strap around it. Getting the “knot” from one side of the strap and pushing it through one of the holes on the other side is tedious. On top of this you have to deal with the fact that the “lips” of the strap can move around while you’re doing this. So if one side of the strap falls out, it’s because the lip that’s secured to the “watch” part got loose.

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Removal of the strap is easy. Just slide it off the attachment point and you’re good to go.

Protective Cover for Dock

Honestly, to me it was a little odd for JSAUX to supply this along with the basic kit, but if you have the official dock from Valve, you’ll benefit with this. Initially I thought it was its own stand…until I realized the Deck just fell right through when I tried to put it on since there’s no “feet” to support the weight. Instead this is a cover that goes over the official dock.

As I don’t have the official dock I don’t have much else to comment about this. I guess it will be a nice touch for your dock though.

Cooling Fan

The cooling fan by JSAUX is compatible with and without the ModCase. With the ModCase on, you just need to take the clip off, then you can slide it into the attachment point. Unlike other cooling fans, this fan actually has a separate battery. So when you’re using it, you’re not sipping more battery from the Deck while it’s on. A knob is provided on the side where you can turn it on or off, and adjust the wind speed (up to 6,000 RPM).

According to JSAUX, the battery is 2,000 mAh and lasts anywhere from four-to-six hours, depending on how fast the wind speed is set to. It takes an hour-and-a-half to fully charge via the USB-C port on the bottom. A 90-degree angled USB-C adapter is provided to make it a little easier to connect when the fan is attached to the Deck.

Some people feel like there is a need to keep your Deck’s temperature down. I got a comment on a video I did going over if it’s worth using a fan for your Deck, saying “temps going up to 92-95C can´t be good for the APU over time.” So I guess there’s that.

A cooling fan, even with an external battery, doesn’t spell longer battery. In fact, in the brief testing I did, the battery life was even worse. Gotham Knights lasted five minutes longer without the cooling fan. My guess is that the lower CPU/GPU temperature with the fan on allowed the Deck to squeeze in more power to the CPU/GPU cores, therefore consuming more battery. So if you were looking to extend your Deck’s battery life, cooling the temperature is not the way to go.

I’ll need to do some more testing here. Ideally I’d like to run a game capped at 30 or 40 FPS, with a set TDP limit, then try testing again to see if my first test was actually using more battery with the CPU/GPU temperature cooled down.

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JSAUX claims that the Deck’s temperature can cool down as much as 18 degrees C. Results have varied from individual to individual. One person told me that it’s pretty close; they saw a 16-17 degree drop. In my testing I’ve only seen a 14 degree difference. But yes, you’ll certainly be able to cool the APU’s temperature down, if you see any benefit of doing that.

I think a cooling fan would make more sense when your Deck is docked. I’ll let the commenter on my video do the talking for me:

Modular Case That’s Far Less Expensive than the Killswitch

I don’t have the Killswitch so that I can compare directly. What I will say, though, is the basic kit for the ModCase is half that of the Killswitch basic (or as they refer to as “essential”) kit. The front cover isn’t even included and that itself would tack on another $15. While the Killswitch may have a backplate mount for mounting additional accessories, dbrand hasn’t even made any add-ons for it yet.

Only benefit I see with the Killswitch is the choice of a Deck skin. Ergonomics and durability might play a different role as well. Again, I wouldn’t know since I don’t have one.

Is the ModCase worth the $30? I’d say so. It’s neat to have a modular design where you can add and remove components at will. You have a case, a kickstand, a ~~watch~~ strap to put on additional accessories, a front cover, and a cover for the official dock. JSAUX already has additional accessories with which you can further enhance your experience, with a USB-C hub, a cooling fan, a M.2 to USB-C converter, a power bank, what have you.

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Only noticable issues that I have so far is the kickstand could kick out a little further, and the strap needs improvement as to how accessories get secured. I’m also disappointed that I can’t fit the click-y back button set through the case. I like that set of back buttons. The front cover being somewhat loose is also a little bit of a downside, though it’s not that significant.

TL;DR

The good:

pretty good price for what you’re getting
case, front cover, kickstand, strap, and dock case all included in basic kit
comfortable case while simultaneously protecting the Deck
modularity allows you to add and remove accessories easily
kickstand is made of metal
strap allows power banks, USB-C docks, and other accessories to be attached
cooling fan keeps your Deck’s temperature down

The not-so-good:

front cover is somewhat loose
kickstand only goes out by about 45 degrees
strap is a PITA to work with
click-y back button set with the transparent shell will NOT fit through the case

You can buy JSAUX’ ModCase over on their store.

Review sample sent courtesy of JSAUX. Opinions are of my own.

The Dark Side of Valve

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 02:28:36 +0000

UPDATE (1/27/2023): comments are disabled. Please keep in mind I’m just presenting a TL;DR of the video; in no way am I expressing my opinion on any of this (except for Valve’s ignorance when people try to reach them).

The animal. The mystery whose case continues to be cracked. The company for which people make a whole dedicated YouTube channel for the sake of digging further about said company. Valve fits all the above.

The Steam Deck. Greatest gadget ever, right? To win the hardware of the year award in 2022? Proton? Constantly getting updated and making Windows gaming on Linux easier by the day? Interviews with Valve employees sharing things we can look forward to in the future?

And yet, no one talks about the darker side of the company. No one talks about the fact that your chances of getting hired at Valve are slim to none if you’re a junior developer, a woman, a color other than white, disabled, non-binary, or trans. No one talks about the anxiety of knowing that you could instantly be fired at any moment, and how unpleasant that process is. No one talks about the structure of the company not really being “flat” as they advertise in their handbook. No one talks about how games like Portal 3 could actually happen if it weren’t for people constantly moving around to different projects and the amount of money Steam has been raking in.

People Make Games did an interview with over a dozen anonymous Valve employees and ex-employees. Apparently they’ve been working on the video since August. Bear in mind some of the stuff in the video is recycled information that we already know, but there are some other interesting (or depressing, depending on how you view this) facts about the company that you might not know about thanks to this video. While some have said Valve is a great place to work, they also mention many internal issues going on with the company.

Image credit: Castle Rock Entertainment/Nelson Entertainment/Columbia Pictures

Here’s some of the main bits that I extracted from the video, if you prefer a TL;DR:

Company Structure

two former employees compared the workplace structure to Lord of the Flies
flat structure with no bosses, right? Not necessarily. There is management; just no “institutionalised management.” There are a small number of “secret” people in charge, who Valve refers to as “team leads.” Some are “great natural managers,” others “aren’t necessarily great at it”
roles within the company are temporary and often get changed
it usually takes a while for the company to address a poor manager. When action does finally take place, it sometimes means the project they were associated with “goes down in flames”
if Valve wasn’t making such a huge cash fountain, many have said that this has “completely changed the trajectory” of the company. Valve would “almost certainly” ship more games if it used a traditional company structure that doesn’t allow employees from changing projects so frequently, and if Steam wasn’t generating as much revenue as it currently does

Stacked Ranking

Employees are invited to meetings around October each year with four-to-six people in said meeting. They will evaluate the “performance” of ten other colleagues based on skill level, productivity, group contribution, and product contribution. After these evaluations there will be an ordered list of employees, ranked by how their peers have rated them. Then in January an automated email from Gabe goes out presenting the employee’s new salary and bonus. Poor performance usually means a lower salary or bonus, but this is not always the case. Therefore, your co-workers’ opinions on you largely affects the amount that you get paid.

“certain personality types and demographics” benefit more than others in terms of hiring, firing, and salary negotiations
starting salary is “extremely competitive” but this salary gets changed annually via “stacked ranking” either for good or for bad
many employees would make short-term decisions as a result of this stacked ranking process; no point in working on a long-term project that “may or may not pay off” if you still have a bad ranking
employees might do “riskier” projects in the beginning of the year, then go back to the “more well known ones” closer to review time because of “recency bias”
one current employee described it being “safer to criticise someone than it is to defend them.” Complimenting a project or person can open yourself up to “a much greater risk” of getting an unfavorable review by your colleagues if that person happens to make a mistake, or that project fails. On the other hand, leaving a critical remark gives you “zero risk”

Image credit: UpYourTelesales

Lack of Diversity

huge diversity problem; Valve largely hires white men. Don’t expect to get hired if you’re black, disabled, a woman, trans, non-binary, or anything besides white. If you’re a woman and you do get hired, expect to be the only female programmer at the company
on top of only hiring white males, the interviewee needs to be senior; they don’t hire juniors
despite efforts to increase diversity within the company, employees have largely had their requests fall on deaf ears

The Unpleasant Firing Process

“people are very insecure at Valve” because there’s always the feeling of, “Am I going to get fired?”
signals that you might be fired next include getting cryptic emails of someone saying “It’s my last day at Valve, loved working with you.” Another one will come three hours later…
who fires you? “Someone volunteers because they felt it was important”
out of all the employees/ex-employees interviewed, none of them had any “pros” to describe the firing process

Stances on World Events

Valve didn’t make a public statement for Black Lives Matter following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, but they did send employees $10,000 each, to which they could donate to any charity of their choice. The actual string of the “no strings attached” was the fact that an employee could keep the money for themselves rather than donate it
Valve would sponsor the Game Devs of Color Expo and Black Voices in Gaming later on, but the announcement came from one of the event organizers, rather than Valve itself. Only thing that Valve said was “Shawn’s Tweet is accurate.”

Stance on What Gets Approved and What Doesn’t on the Steam Store

Valve introduced Steam Direct in 2017, where a game dev could pay $100 to greenlight their game on Steam rather than rely on community voting approval. This apparently came with “controversies” as one game got pulled from Steam a week prior to its release
there have been controversial views regarding Valve’s approval of pornographic or racist games being approved on Steam. Despite protests from the community (most of) these games are still up for sale on Steam. Per Steam’s policy, any game is allowed on Steam so long as it is not “illegal” or “straight up trolling”

Steam Store Cut

only 3% of devs, according to the 2021 GDC survey, think the 30% cut that Valve takes with every copy of a game sold on Steam is justified
indie devs suffer the most from this cut as they are less likely to be making $10 million+ (Valve’s cut is reduced at that point, only making AAA game studios benefit)

Other

getting hired is like “getting tenure at a university”
one former employee believes there is a “maximum number of potential Valve employees spread across the globe right now” and predicts there are about 10,000 employees total
the employee handbook is (somewhat) a lie, for the reasons mentioned above
Valve wouldn’t respond to People Make Games for comment on any of these issues. Neither did they respond regarding their concerns for CS:GO gambling sites

In all of this, I at least take solace in the fact that I’m not the only one who gets ignored by Valve every time I contact them.

You can check out the video yourself over on YouTube. Props to People Make Games for doing this, and the various former and current Valve employees for speaking up.

Android Games: Coming to Steam Deck Soon?

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 19:11:50 +0000

A couple of developers who I’m friends with have closely been following the commit history to Gamescope. They just pointed out to me some of the commits that have been pushed today. There’s two things that we can glean:

Gamescope just got native Wayland client support.
With this added, and following the comment of one of the developers (Joshua Ashton), it appears as though they’re looking into Waydroid support.

Part of their comment is as follows:

Given we are only expecting like 1-2 xdg-shell windows for our current usecases (Waydroid, etc) I think this is reasonable for now.

Waydroid, in case you’re not aware, “uses a container-based approach to boot a full Android system on a regular GNU/Linux system.” Given that the Steam Deck uses Gamescope, this would allow said device to boot and use Android. Therefore this would allow the Deck to run Android-based games with a container.

Valve did mention in their interview with The Verge that they were looking at supporting mobile, touch-only games to the Deck. With Waydroid, the developers of the game wouldn’t have to convert their code from ARM to x86. So I guess it would be a win-win situation for both the developer/publisher of the game and Valve. This way Valve can add support for Android games, as they had alluded to in the interview.

Keep in mind this is just a comment. Picture a grain of salt sitting on your Deck:

That’s how you should similarly take it when it comes to comments like this.

In any event, if this does happen it will be some exciting news!

See today’s commit history if you want more details.

Steam Deck Client Beta Allows OSK to be Moved, Fixes Controller Input with Controller Configurator

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 04:09:09 +0000

Note: since Valve is copy/pasting the patch notes from the desktop client, some of these patch notes may NOT be for the Steam Deck! I am unable to confirm since I am on stable.

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

General

Added ability to move the standalone & overlay keyboard. The keyboard will cycle through a set of positions.
Fixed controller input in the windowed version of the controller configurator
Added mouse buttons to the events that will skip the start-up movie

DXVK 2.1 Adds HDR Support, Shader Compilation Improvements

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:13:10 +0000

Sweet new release for the excellent DXVK (DirectX-to-Vulkan) – a part of what makes up Proton and is responsible for translating DX9/10/11 titles on Linux/Steam Deck. This follows shortly on the heels of the big Wine 8.0 update.

First up, we have HDR support for systems “supporting HDR10 color spaces.” This can be enabled by using DXVK_HDR=1 or setting dxgi.enableHDR to true in the config file. This should work for D3D12 games as well when using VKD3D-Proton 2.8.

Here’s a few caveats: you will need to use Gamescope with --hdr-enabled, as no major DE supports HDR at the moment. Additionally, you’ll need to have an AMD GPU and have the necessary kernel patches installed. Finally, D3D11 is “not expected to work in most games,” and only NVIDIA drivers are expected to work on Windows.

Second, shader compilation improvements. Pipeline libraries have been extended with tessellation or geometry shaders to further reduce stutter. One extension in particular was “leveraged” to reduce stutter with MSAA, “provided that the Vulkan driver supports them.”

Third, sample rate shading for older titles that support MSAA. This will “let users enabled sample rate shading for all shaders.” Though this will have “a very high impact on GPU-bound performance,” it may “increase overall image quality in certain games that suffer from specular aliasing or shimmering alpha-tested geometry.”

Native Linux builds of DXVK now have a GLFW backend as a “compile-time alternative to the existing SDL2 backend.”

Besides this, of course we get the round of bug fixes and improvements. Game-specific fixes/workarounds include:

Ashes of the Singularity: Fixed performance regression caused by suboptimal descriptor set allocation.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Fixed flickering (#3078, PR #3079)
Cardfight!! Vanguard: Fixed rendering (PR #3068).
Gujian 3: Fixed rendering issues on some GPUs. (#1784)
Resident Evil 4 HD: Fixed invalid Vulkan usage causing a GPU hang on RADV. (PR #3089)
Saints Row: The Third: Fixed a severe performance issue with rain when using the D3D9 renderer. (#2473, PR #3158)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: Fixed stuttering issues on Nvidia GPUs. (#3179)
Sonic Frontiers: Worked around a game bug that would cause shadows to flicker when GPU-bound.
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance: Fixed a crash after loading (#3058, PR #3060)

That fix for Sonic Frontiers in particular sounds interesting. I wonder if that will improve performance at all on NVIDIA GPUs.

Fixes include:

Fixed D3D11 reference counting issues around 2D textures. (#3169)
Fixed Vulkan validation errors when creating DXGI_FORMAT_A8_UNORM UAVs. Note that UAVs of this format may not work as expected.
Fixed Vulkan validation errors that would occur when allocating dedicated image memory on Nvidia GPUs in some situations.
Fixed Vulkan validation errors caused by broken timeline semaphores on 32-bit Proton.

Workarounds:

Worked around an issue with the Uplay overlay being stuck on screen. (#3146) Note that this fix does not apply to Windows as it was achieved by loading winevulkan.dll directly instead of the actual Vulkan loader. Note that this change will break Red Dead Redemption 2 with dxvk-nvapi prior to this commit: jp7677/dxvk-nvapi@ac00a42
Worked around a bug in AMD’s Windows driver as well as AMDVLK that would cause numerous games to crash since DXVK 2.0. (#3172)

Everything else:

Improved D3D11 command submission logic in order to make overall performance more consistent, and to bring DXVK’s behaviour more in line with native D3D11 drivers.
Fewer threads will be used to perform background optimization of graphics pipeines. This may result in a smoother gameplay experience on some systems. Note that this change does not affect initial shader compiling, as finishing that quickly is crucial to avoid stutter.
The state cache file will now only be created when the first pipeline is written to it, in order to avoid empty cache files. This change mostly affects D3D9 games on systems with EXT_graphics_pipeline_library support.
The setup script setup_dxvk.sh was no longer deemed useful and got removed.

Note that DXVK 2.1 will NOT work with versions of VKD3D-Proton prior to 2.8.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Wine 8.0 Released, Brings Improved Performance to Direct3D and Improved Controller Hotplugging Support

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 16:13:13 +0000

Wine 8.0 has now been declared as stable. In it were five release candidates which “represents a year of development effort” and over 8,600 changes. The main achievement of this release, as brought out in the patch notes, “is the completion of the conversion to PE format.” The PE conversion itself took four years worth of work! But it’s important to have as this, as this is a “milestone on the road to supporting various features” such as copy protection and x86 application support on ARM.

There’s also “WoW64 thunks.” Eventually this will make it “fully possible to run 32-bit Windows applications without any 32-bit Unix library.”

In the gaming department we’ve got a couple of nice features:

“greatly improved” controller hotplugging support
“better implemented” driving wheel detection and reporting, with improved force feedback
redesigned joystick control panel with new graphics and dedicated view for XInput pads
DualShock/DualSense hidraw support
new programming interface for gamepads/driving wheels
“major performance improvements” for Direct3D due to “optimizations related to streaming map acceleration”
recognition for more graphics cards

Some other changes:

light theme enabled by default “for a more modern look”
print processor architecture implemented “to avoid direct PE<->Unix calls in the printer driver”
“effects” support for Direct2D, including “description parsing and a number of core objects”
support for Vulkan driver 1.3.237
multiple viewport and scissor rectangle support for the Vulkan renderer
Vulkan renderer limits max D3D feature level based on available Vulkan features
MPEG-1 layers 1-3 implemented on top of GStreamer
ASF reader filter support
“content type resolution” improved in media foundation player
better support for the enhanced video renderer, with DirectShow filter support
reduced disk space and address space usage with the implementation of the ApiSetSchema database
Mono updated to 7.4.0
updates to various bundled libraries, including Faudio, Zlib, and more
RSA encryption/signing

See the rest of the patch notes on WineHQ. Congrats to the Wine team, CodeWeavers, Valve, and whoever else contributed to this huge release!

Forza Horizon 4: Finally Playable Without Crashing?

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:14:34 +0000

Going by the reports on ProtonDB, it seems Forza Horizon 4 suffers from random crashing across all GPU vendors, including the Deck. I do recall playing the game back when I had a NVIDIA GPU and getting a consistent crash at the same area in-game.

Seems like u/Conradson spent ten hours trying to figure out a solution. At least for NVIDIA users. Their process is as follows:

don’t use GameMode
need to use GE-Proton7-24 for some apparent reason
Before the first run with GE-Proton7-24, remove the Proton prefix steamapps/compatdata/1293830 if it exists (in your Steam install folder)
Before the first run with GE-Proton7-24, disable Shader Pre-Caching, then re-enable it to generate new cache (in Steam > Settings > Shader Pre-Caching)
In-game, disable MSAA in the video settings, you can set the other settings as you like

They reported both singleplayer and multiplayer are working without a hitch. Both the native .deb package of Steam on Ubuntu as well as the Flatpak version worked.

Mildly interesting. Since I refunded the game I can’t verify if this works or not. But I’d be curious if this will work on AMD/Steam Deck.

Game is on sale for 67% off during the Xbox lunar sale.

Cover image credit: Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios

Steam Deck Client Beta Shows More Content in Mode Settings, Fixes JoyCon Gyro

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 04:00:16 +0000

Note: since Valve is copy/pasting the patch notes from the desktop client, some of these patch notes may NOT be for the Steam Deck! I am unable to confirm since I am on stable.

Steam Input

Reworked the layout of the mode settings page to show more content
Added upper grips as an option for mode shifts
Filtered Mode Shift button options to only show available buttons based on the controller type- Fixed chord activator options for XBox and XBox Elite controller types
Improved Layout Preview for Nintendo Switch Joycon Left/Right/Pair
Fixed Capture button icon not being displayed for Joycon Pair
Fixed the Switch Pro Layout Preview not showing the gyro
Nintendo Switch SL/SR buttons now show up as Bumpers for single Joycons or Grip buttons for a JoyCon Pair
Joycon individual/pair Gyro now displays and functions properly

Deck Desktop

Hide the cursor when in gamepad-navigation mode in Big Picture
Fixed Big Picture Mode keyboard window not exiting when closed
Fixed an issue with detecting game windows on Linux

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

dbrand Invites a Lawsuit with the SwitchDeck

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 19:56:56 +0000

dbrand actually had the audacity to create a Steam Deck skin called the “SwitchDeck”. Not only did they use the word “Switch” in their name, but they also used Nintendo’s coloring scheme with their original joycon set.

I’m just going to let dbrand’s site do the talking for me, as their humor is a lot more funny than mine:

For years, countless blogs have clickbaited millions into believing that a “Switch Pro” was just around the corner. One Switch Lite and a Switch OLED later, we decided to tackle the problem ourselves. After stockpiling a considerable amount of ammunition, our lawyers quietly remarked how they would prefer if we abandoned the mercenary plot and instead went back to shameless plagiarism. Unfortunately for the blog writers, we know how to multitask.

They also mention the “research” they went through:

When performing competitive research for the SwitchDeck, our first impulse was naturally to infiltrate Nintendo’s Kyoto fortress. After hiring an Italian plumber, we provided him with two things: an adhesive-backed mustache, and a plane ticket to Japan. Perhaps it’s no surprise that his body was later recovered from the Tokyo Bay - we’ve had yakuza problems for a while now. In any event, our backup plan seemed to work just fine: take a Nintendo Switch out of inventory and rip it off. Checkmate, Miyamoto.

Heh, I have to give them credit, not just for their bold move, but also giving me a genuine chuckle. I highly suspect the Big N is going to get themselves involved sooner rather than later, to no one’s surpise. Just because the Switch logo is blurred out on the back, doesn’t mean they’ve covered their arses. I bet we won’t make it to the end of the week before dbrand will have to halt sales due to Nintendo’s lawyers being the lawyers that they are.

If you’re planning on getting one, you better get it now before Nintendo does something about it. Although, to me it’s really not worth the $50 for.

Images are credit of dbrand.

JSAUX Clear Case for Steam Deck Review

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 19:11:20 +0000

JSAUX was kind enough to send their clear case (or shell) accessory for the Steam Deck over for my review. Here’s my thoughts. Unboxing and installation video is available on YouTube.

Basically, as the name implies, the clear case allows for transparency on the back of the Deck. This allows you to see the internals of the hardware as the Steam Deck is running. JSAUX apparently left their branding on the shell at first, but they decided to remove it after listening to community feedback. That’s pretty nice of them to do that.

The company will also be releasing different color variations in April. They conducted a poll over on Twitter with four options: purple, blue, orange, and green. The top two votes are the ones that will be produced. So it looks like we’ll be getting purple and green color variations in the next few months. Great to see the purple one getting made; it reminds me a lot of the GameCube days.

Image credit: JSAUX

It’s more than just a transparent shell though. It also comes with its own thermal grease and heat-dissipation aluminum sheet “that enhances heat-dissipation performance.” Add to this three different back button sets, depending on your tastes. Each set has their own height.

Package Contents

While the case itself has the branding removed, it’s still on the photo of the box. But inside the box there is:

the case itself
Philips screwdriver
disassembler stick (for prying out the back shell)
three sets of back buttons
three sets of screws – for the inner part of the shell, the outer, and for the back buttons
anti-static finger gloves
user guide and installation manual

Although you probably have a screwdriver lying around already for the Deck, this screwdriver in particular is a little smaller – since the screws that go into the shell are also smaller. It’s nice that they provide the stick as well, for making it easier to pry the back shell off.

Then they have the “finger gloves” ~~which look like condoms~~ – this apparently prevents smudges and static from leaving your fingers into the Deck’s hardware. You put them on your finger and then roll it down. Kind of wish I knew about this earlier; I would have used them while I was taking the back shell off. I wonder why they didn’t just supply gloves entirely rather than the individual finger gloves. Probably to save costs or keep the package size small. Would be a lot less work putting two gloves on than ten. I guess hand size probably matters as well, so the finger gloves was probably a “one size fits all” solution.

Installation

Putting the clear shell on the back of the Deck is very similar to the original shell. In fact, the clear shell also has the four inner screws that are a different size than the four outer screws. Only exception is the screws are a little more narrow.

But before you take the original back shell off, make sure you take the MicroSD card out if there is one inserted. Last thing you want to do is break the card while disassembling the shell.

In the box you get three different sets of back buttons, each with their own height. I’ll try my best to explain what each one does:

the vanilla set – these buttons are similar to the stock buttons on the Deck, albeit they seem a little wider and easier to reach
the “high” set – the buttons are set high off from the ground, if that makes sense. A lot of pressure can be put on these buttons, and they sort of have this “squeaky” sound when pressed
the “low” set – these are set higher to the ground than the vanilla set, but lower than the “high” set. These offer a nice click-y touch when pressed

Four screws go on each side of the shell to keep the back buttons secure. So you’d do this before attaching the shell to the back of the Deck. And make sure the button clip goes under the clips that are on the shell; otherwise the back button won’t be registered when it’s pressed.

From there, you can secure the shell as you would the vanilla shell – screw in four inner screws with the appropriately labeled plastic bag, screw in four outer screws with a different bag. An extra screw is provided in each bag – definitely useful, all too often I end up losing screws since they drop to the floor and I can’t find them…

Ergonomics and Heat Dissipation

Not much to say here as to how the clear shell feels. According to the specs on the store product page, it’s made of polycarbonate and aluminum alloy. If you don’t understand those big words, don’t worry; I don’t either. All I can say is that it feels similar to the original back cover. So I have neither a complaint or a compliment here.

I like the fact that there’s three different sets of back buttons that you can use. There’s the vanilla one to keep it the way it was before, a click-y set, and a “squeaky” set. I personally prefer the click-y one – the “low” set. I like the sound it makes when pressing. But an unfortunate caveat is this set does not work with the JSAUX ModCase, since the buttons are too long to fit inside the opening. The vanilla and “high” sets will fit just fine though. The click-y set also may be a bit too easy to accidentally press one of the back buttons with this on. I’ve settled with the “high,” squeaky set for now. Not as nice of a touch as the click-y set but certainly better than the vanilla.

Not a fan of the stickers that they slapped on the back buttons. They’re color-coded so you can tell which set belongs to which, but at the same time, they’re not pretty. You can of course peel them off, but now you have to clean them up to get rid of the sticky residue they leave behind.

I left Gotham Knights running for a few minutes on low settings and framerate cap set to 60 FPS. And wow, JSAUX isn’t lying when they say the aluminum area (above the vent grills) can potentially cause burns:

Because aluminum has good thermal conductivity, it will be hotter than other areas when touched. Be careful not to touch it to avoid being burned when you use your Deck.

Hold it to your leg while you’re wearing shorts, and you probably will get a burn, depending on how demanding the game is. I don’t have a set of thermal tools so I can see how hot the area gets, but believe me, keep your fingers away while playing. Part of me does have a bit of concern regarding how hot the Deck gets with this shell on, but I guess it’s normal, according to JSAUX. Just hope my Deck doesn’t overheat one of these days.

I Like It

There’s not really much of anything else to say about the clear case/shell. It’s not super transparent, but you can still get a pretty good look at the Deck’s internals while it’s running. While dbrand may have a teardown skin, it’s a lot better to actually see your hardware in action. Customizable back buttons are definitely a nice bonus, but keep in mind one of the sets will not work with the ModCase if you have one.

Even though the shell has its own thermal grease and aluminum sheet, how hot the Deck gets while it’s running is also a little worrying, although apparently with the way aluminum works, this is normal.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

TL;DR

The good:

see your Deck’s internal hardware in action while it’s in use
customizable back button height
screwdriver, prying bar, and “finger gloves” included
extra screws are provided should you lose any
no branding

The not-so-good:

the Deck gets hot while it’s in use – can potentially cause a burn if you’re not careful
“low” back button set (the click-y ones) doesn’t fit inside the ModCase since it’s too long
stickers are put on the back buttons, and they leave a sticky residue behind when removed

Get your clear case on JSAUX’ website.

Up next: the review of the ModCase.

Review sample sent courtesy of JSAUX. Opinions are of my own.

Proton Experimental Improves Multi-Touch Support, Fixes Scrollbar with FFXIV Online Launcher

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 16:38:17 +0000

Small update out for Proton Experimental. Might be good for Steam Deck users though, as multi-touch support has been ‘improved.’ How exactly it’s been improved, the patch notes don’t mention. I guess it’s good news for games that require the use of the touchscreen.

And boy, is there a never-ending amount of bug fixes for Final Fantasy XIV. The online launcher’s “native” scrollbar should no longer be visible all the time.

That’s all! See the patch notes on GitHub.

Weekly News Recap (Steam Deck Needs a Flagship Title, GE-Proton Hotfix Flurry, Valve Copy/Pasting Patch Notes)

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 17:48:54 +0000

Steam Deck

Monday’s Deck client beta adds up and down arrow keys to the OSK, and pinned notifications for various items
Thursday’s Deck client beta fixes non-responsive non-Steam games when the OSK is brought up. Important: Valve is copy/pasting the patch notes from the desktop client, so not everything in the patch note list for the Deck may be true!
Gardiner Bryant says that the Deck needs “a title that takes full advantage of the…hardware”. I agree; highly recommend giving his article a read
The Division 2 gets a hotfix that should allow the game to be playable now

Hardware

moving from NVIDIA to AMD? It’s been pure bliss
want to overclock your AMD GPU? Here’s how
Aya Neo thinks they can make a handheld with a dGPU. Meanwhile here I am laughing at the fake news
Gamers Nexus documents EVGA’s last video card
you can now enable Bluetooth on a Stadia controller
VR seems to be getting GameScope support

Native Games

I wrote down some quick thoughts regarding the Smash-like Fraymakers – it’s both good and bad
I also wrote a review on Sonority – a puzzle game where you can only progress in the game by playing the right notes on a flute

Software Updates

Wine 8.0-rc5 fixes nine bugs, improves OpenGL perf with Dark Souls Remastered. rc-4 fixed 25 bugs and increases rendering speed on external monitors
GE-Proton 7-44 adds HDR patches, adds launcher workaround for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Several releases followed shortly thereafter. Important: please upgrade to 7-47 to fix DXVK “invalid state cache files”!
NVIDIA driver 528.85.05 gets a few fixes

Other

looks like we won’t be getting Wayland support with AppImages. To make the situation worse, further responses to the pull request have caused the thread to be locked and “limited to collaborators”
GOL does an interview with the Heroic Games Launcher founder

Cover image credit: Ubisoft

Wine 8.0-rc5 Fixes Slow OpenGL Performance with Dark Souls Remastered, Fixes Video Playback for Several Titles

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 19:18:52 +0000

The patch notes mention for this particular release candidate that it should be “the last…before the final 8.0.” Not as big of an update as previous release candidates, but bug fixes we did get for a few titles, including Dark Souls Remastered, Mafia III, War Mongrels, The Medium, and Sherlock Holmes Chapter One.

A total of nine bugs were fixed:

#26822 Double click the icon in the title bar should close the window
#32643 getsockopt() does not indicate WSAEFAULT when setting optlen too small
#45542 WeGame hangs after login.
#50351 Slow text rendering in dofus linked to fnIMLangFontLink2_GetCharCodePages calling WideCharToMultiByte with CP_UNICODE
#51227 urlmon:url breaks the wininet:http test on Windows 10 1709+ (7 failures)
#51906 Multiple games fail to play videos (War Mongrels, The Medium, Sherlock Holmes Chapter One)
#53408 Dark Souls: Remastered has slow performance with OpenGL renderer
#53761 Broken rendering in Mafia III: Definitive Edition
#54283 dinput:force_feedback - test_windows_gaming_input() sometimes crashes on Windows

See the patch notes on WineHQ. Provided that everything goes according to plan we should be seeing the stable 8.0 release within a week or two.

Cover image credit: Frogwares

What? A Handheld Powered by Discrete Graphics?! (Plus Aya Neo OS Update)

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 17:59:44 +0000

Man. It’s hard to keep up with all the new gadgets Aya Neo comes up with. They just released an article going over a ton of new handhelds that they are in the process of making. But one device in particular I wanted to talk about is the Aya Neo Next 2.

I’m not kidding you: this handheld will harness the power of discrete graphics. If the device actually does come to fruition – which will apparently be available to the masses “before the end of 2023” – this will be the first PC handheld to do so.

The news post mentions:

AYANEO NEXT 2, another masterpiece that challenges the peak of performance, a legendary discrete graphics card for Windows handhelds, with leapfrog breakthroughs in performance and configuration, the next generation 7000 Series CPU + brand new discrete graphics card, sturdy performance, 8" + screen. It is even more like a tiger with wings added, and it is difficult to match the small mountains at a glance.

Notice that they use the word “Windows.” So I guess Linux will be treated as a second-class citizen, as usual.

As expected, details are a bit scarce at the moment. No word was given as to what exactly the discrete graphics will be; whether it be NVIDIA or AMD, or what series it will be. No word on price, battery capacity, hard drive space, or RAM class/capacity. All we know for now is that it will be using an AMD 7000 series CPU and an 8" screen. Judging by the photos it looks like the device will also sport touchpads, unlike Aya’s previous handhelds. I expect a price of at least two grand.

Another concern I have is…how on earth are they going to pack a battery that’s not going to increase the thickness of the shell by three inches? The 6800U by itself is a gas guzzler when it comes to battery life. An upgrade to the CPU, and discrete graphics? You’d better have a battery that’s at least 80 Wh. And with a battery like that, the handheld will probably be five pounds and four inches thick. On top of that get a life expectancy of two or three hours before needing a recharge.

But regarding Linux, it looks like the company is continuing to make progress on their own distro:

Based on the Linux system, AYANEO’s self-developed AYANEO OS for games will also bring ideals into reality and will be officially launched in 2023. Players can have more efficient operating efficiency, lower power consumption, and [a] more elegant interactive interface, and a more immersive experience, and focus on the game itself. At present, the system is undergoing internal testing in a small area, and is thinking about the underlying architecture.

So we have a little something to go by here; it will be officially out sometime this year. But no word on what the distro is based on, whether other devices can use Aya Neo OS, or if it will be open-source.

They did at least provide a couple of screenshots of the interface. Looks very similar to modern Android.

I did try getting in touch with Aya a couple of times to see if I can get any review samples from them, but no luck. Doesn’t mean I won’t stop trying though. I definitely want to get my hands on the Next 2 if I can.

Let me know your thoughts on this. Do you think it’s really possible to have a handheld in 2023 with discrete graphics and a fairly decent battery life?

All images used in this article are credit of Aya Neo.

GE-Proton7-46 Fixes Several DX12 Games That Crashed on Launch

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 17:07:07 +0000

Usually there’s a flurry of subsequent releases of GE-Proton after a new one comes out. As such, I normally don’t cover every single update that comes out, but I’d figure this one would be worth mentioning.

While 7-45 removed the “deprecated broken dxvk-async patch” due to it causing “problems with the dxvk-cache,” the following 7-46 release is a little more exciting.

The following titles should now run (or, at least not crash on launch anymore):

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Death Stranding
God of War
The Division 2

Seems like Monster Hunter: Rise is still broken for now, due to “flickering compiling shaders.” Probably won’t be long before that gets fixed too.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Kojima Productions/505 Games

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Unresponsive Non-Steam Apps, Adds VR/M+K Icons

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 04:36:22 +0000

Non-Steam apps should still be responsive when bringing up the OSK in today’s Deck client update. The New BPM got an update and a few fixes, as well as Steam Input.

Full patch notes are as follows:

General

Fixed non-Steam apps becoming unresponsive to gamepad when onscreen keyboard is opened
Fixed background images on a collection on the app details page not being clipped correctly
Fixed issue where the Remove Collection dialog was not appearing
Added icons for VR support or Mouse & KB only support to app portraits

New Big Picture Mode

Detect focus shifting away from the BPM window faster and reduce instances of navigation going to BPM after starting a game
Fixed Steam mini window not closing when entering Big Picture Mode
Fixed problem where setting certain library filters in Big Picture Mode could cause those games to become hidden when switching back to desktop.

Steam Input

Handle errors better and fix some cases where configs would no longer load
On larger screens combine the keyboard and numpad tabs of the choose binding screen
Fixed some cases where some languages could have text overflow in choose binding screen
Remember the last active tab in the choose binding screen and open to that instead always using the tab w/ the current binding value

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Fraymakers, The 2D Platform Fighter - Quick Thoughts

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 17:35:27 +0000

Fraymakers just released in early access about 15 hours ago. I’ve only spent 4.5 hours so far, but it’s enough where I can collect my thoughts onto a piece of paper – that being this post.

In case you’re not aware, Fraymakers is a pixel-art platform fighter that closely resembles the mechanics from the Smash Brothers series. The team behind the game, McLeodGaming, is also responsible for the infamous Super Smash Flash 1 and 2.

Platform fighters is certainly not something new. There’s quite a few out there: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Slap City, Rivals of Aether, Rushdown Revolt, Brawlhalla, MultiVersus, and Brawlout, just to name a few. All of them try to replicate the mechanics of Smash in one way or another. Some of them add their own twist. Some have done well. Others were put out to the market way too early just to make a quick buck.

Fraymakers is the latest to hit the block. This is one that I’ve been looking forward to.

Gameplay

In a nutshell, the mechanics are very similar to Smash. You deploy a shield in front of your character with the left or right trigger. You can wavedash (move forward across the ground without actually walking), air dodge, grab, throw in four different directions. You can jump and double jump. Add a third recovery move with Up Special. And yep, specials are in here: neutral, side, down, and up. Standard attacks too: the standard one-two-three combo, side tilt, up tilt, down tilt, charagable smash attacks. Build enough damage to your opponent, knock them off the stage. You get the idea.

Differences, as far as I can tell, are:

shielding only protects the front of your character instead of all around, but your character can guard indefinitely, without a “shield break”
you cannot “jab” during a grab to add damage – when grabbing, the only thing you can do is throw the opponent
there’s little to no landing lag when doing an aerial attack. This basically kills the concept of L-Cancel
the game makes the use of “assists” – characters that will temporarily assist you in battle
no taunting
the announcer is a little more “varied”; she will make commentary based on whether you did a footstomp, or if your character has been idle for too long

The Good

In the brief amount of time I’ve played so far, I’d say the gameplay isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s fun if you can actually find an opponent close enough to you that isn’t going to slow the flow of the game – which I’ll get into later. I would say the mechanics do feel competitive, at least somewhat.

I like the retro-y theme of the main menu. Music is pretty decent. Controls, as far as customization goes, is incredible – you can assign a shortcut button to wavedash or short-hop, for example. You could assign wavedash to the left shoulder button, and now you’ve made your life much easier when you want to quickly skid across the stage, without having to jam your fingers pressing the trigger down while inputting jump and diagonal on the analog stick all at the same time. (Yeah, that was a mouthful.) You have options for enabling or disabling tap-jump. You can enable or disable auto-dash, double-tap dash, or short hop with a quick jump press. Customize the deadzone and radius of the sticks and triggers. All of this and more. The point is, the customizable controls are definitely a praiseworthy aspect of the game.

And yes, of course your GameCube controller adapter will work with this game. Just make sure to turn the adapter to PC mode rather than Switch/Wii U.

The graphics department is a little more barebones. I mean, with a pixel-art game I’m not expecting much out of the gate as far as low, medium, high settings, etc. You can change the resolution, enable or disable vsync, change the display mode to windowed, bordered fullscreen, fullscreen. There’s also an option to turn “pixel perfect (black bars)” on or off. I’m honestly not sure what it does, as I haven’t seen any difference between having it on or off.

As far as gameplay options, there’s color blind options, “shaking” for various on-screen elements, hit/dust/lighting effects, shadows. You can also customize whether you want the HUD at the top or bottom, and whether player outlines should be shown only in teams or all the time. The player outlines might be useful if you’re playing on Deck to help you see where the characters are. Hmm. I wonder if it might be worth combining the “Graphics” and “Gameplay” sections of the game together. At any rate you do have some options if you’re running the oldest potato computer that you’ve ever owned. (90s CRT, anyone? Less latency for gamepad input!)

There’s also a lot of customization when it comes to mod support. The game supports Steam Workshop. Here you can download and use custom characters, stages, assists, and music, adding further variety to the character roster and stage selection. What’s pretty neat is you can actually play online with these mods – when versing an opponent, if they have a mod that you don’t, you’ll be prompted to download it. After it’s been downloaded, now you can verse each other with mods. I have to say, Captain Falcon versus Game & Watch on Dreamland is, well, a dream come true. You’re basically playing a 2D version of Smash Bros. at that point.

Oh, and of course I can’t forget to mention there’s native Linux support, which, based on my testing so far, runs great on Wayland with a 6700 XT.

The Bad

I have to admit the asking price of $20 is a bit steep for what you’re getting, at the moment. The game launched in early access with:

four characters
five stages
20 assists
rollback netcode
FrayTools – “custom content program”

Four characters isn’t much. Mind you, none of these characters are original – they are all from a different game. Orcane, for example, is from Rivals of Aether. Welltaro is from Downwell. I don’t know if the developers ever intended to make an original character in the first place. Perhaps not. The next two characters, the Watcher and Ultra Fishbunjin 3000, are also from another game.

Additionally, while every character’s hitbox has been coded, some of their animations aren’t fully “fleshed” in. Just take Octodad’s Down Special, for instance:

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I know the game is in early access, but it’s kind of embarassing to have sketches like this without the animation being fully baked in. For a public product, I expect better, especially given 1) the numerous delays that have happened before the game went live and 2) the fact that McLeodGaming already has had prior experience in the platform fighting industry with their previous titles.

Sometimes it feels like matches can take forever. In a Commander Video vs. Commander Video match, don’t expect the match to end before five minutes. The knockback on their hitboxes could definitely use some improvement and be buffed.

Game modes are very lackluster. Just take the Training Mode as an example. Literally, change CPU level, and that’s all you can customize here. You can’t control how the CPU behaves, the speed of the gameplay, what damage percentage the CPU should be set to. Just, nothing other than your character, your assist, the CPU character, their assist, and the stage. Stage hazards can be set to “On” but then the only stage that will be available is just one.

Playing locally, you can play with up to four players or CPUs. Change the time amount and the number of stocks, that’s it. Not even a “time” mode implemented yet. Everything is greyed out in the Match Options window, albeit for the time and stocks. You can’t even turn friendly fire off (not that I would anyway, but still). No story mode, but for a fighting game, I can forgive that; fighting games don’t really need one.

And sure, you can play online, but the netcode is hit or miss. Even though the game is supposedly making use of rollback netcode, if your opponent is too far away, expect your framerate to slow down to a crawl. Even if you do manage to find someone relatively close, the netcode still might not be reliable enough. Last night, the game was filled with lobbies. Now? There’s less than half the number. And why does the rollback netcode have to be turned off when joining a lobby with custom mods enabled? Not to mention the softlock that I got after I used the game’s rollback stress test.

I’m still not done talking about online. I’d like to see this option in the future: a filter where you can see what lobbies are password-protected and which ones aren’t. Half of the lobbies I tried to enter were password-protected, and I had no way of verifying this ahead of time. Oh and look, an option to “Search and Filter” is there, but of course, it’s greyed out.

Another improvement I’d like to see is, say for example you open up a four-player lobby. You wait for someone to come in. You can start the match if you want, but now you’re kind of “locked in” with the player count. Nobody else can come in and join, unless you exit the character selection screen. Forcing you and everyone else to wait while twidling your thumbs rather than play a match. I’d like to see this as being more robust and allow players to join the lobby while the players are playing a game, then they can come in.

Did I mention there’s no taunting and no victory screen for the characters?

How Does it Steam Deck?

Heh, do I really need to comment on this? Works out of the box. No fuss whatsoever. 1280 x 800 resolution is supported. You can turn the resolution down to 640 x 360 in the Graphics menu. Enable windowed mode and now you’ve got a more retro-looking game. Not only this, but now your Deck will be a battery sipper. Turn the TDP all the way down to 3 W for one-on-ones. Still get a crisp 60 FPS. With four players, you’ll need to bump it to 4 W. Maybe 5 W just to be safe. You’ll probably get at least six hours of battery life with this.

One note I’d like to mention though: you may want to disable Steam Cloud if you switch between your Deck and your desktop. The reason why I say this is because if you have a different resolution on your desktop, then play on your Deck, your Deck will carry those resolution settings over. The result is you may get a very odd-looking screen, and then when you try to change the graphics options, the game will softlock for some reason. It’s hard to explain. The only way you can change the graphics settings again on your Deck is if you go back to the game on desktop and change the resolution from there.

Wait for More Content and Polish

There’s a lot of issues with this game. Despite how many times the deadline has been pushed back, I feel like it still needed some more time in the oven before it went live. Unfinished animations, incredibly lackluster game mode variety, only four characters, and bad netplay are just a few of the quirks that have almost turned me off from the game. Not to mention some of the character’s hitboxes could use adjustment as far as knockback strength.

But I still like the game regardless. It’s fun to play, the modding community has already added a lot more characters and stages for increased variety, and you can use these mods online. The use of assists also increases the gameplay variety and for keeping your opponent guessing. And what’s not to love about native Linux support and great Steam Deck compatibility.

For now, I’d suggest holding off buying it. It’s not worth the $20 asking price. I think a more suitable price for what you’re getting would be $15. Of course, I have faith that McLeodGaming will iron out some of the issues I’ve addressed here over time, as well as adding more characters and game modes. Netcode definitely needs some improvement too. Only then will the game be worth your money. Either that or wait for the game to go on sale. Only buy it now if you’re a Smash Bros. enthusiast.

TL;DR

The good:

fun, competitive gameplay
mod support (with online support with the appropriate lobby settings)
insanely customizable controls (easy wavedash with just the press of a single button)
retro main menu with a pixel-like font
good music
native Linux support
great Steam Deck compatibility

The not-so-good:

not worth the asking price, at least for the time being
unfinished animations
very few game modes
ultra barebones training mode
only four playable characters
unreliable netcode, with lobbies needing a lot of improvement
no taunting, no victory screen
some hitboxes could use a buff – matches end up being too long otherwise

Fraymakers is available on Steam for $20.

AppImage Developer Rejects Wayland Support

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:07:59 +0000

Someone had made a pull request for LinuxDeployQt, the system that “takes an application as input and makes it self-contained by copying in the resources that the application uses…into a bundle. The resulting bundle can be distributed as an AppDir or as an AppImage to users.” The PR adds the necessary libraries and plugins “to support the Wayland platform.”

This PR isn’t new. It’s been around since July. Only did one of the developers respond six months later after someone had left a “friendly ping.” They responded with:

Thanks, but I am not interested in Wayland. None of my systems run Wayland, because it never works quite right in my experience. Especially when you are not using GNOME or KDE.

It’s a bit of a strange response to be honest – especially the “it never works quite right in my experience” part. I wonder if there’s some sort of political reasoning behind their decision. The response has currently been met with 17 thumbs down.

They added a link in their response to a document that they wrote regarding all the reasons why Wayland should be boycotted. I will admit OBS has kind of been a pain with Wayland, particularly when getting hotkeys to work. But their reasons seem heavily biased, especially when they say “Wayland breaks everything and then expects others to fix the wreckage it caused on their own expense.”

They also mention that Wayland causes screen tearing on Intel. It actually doesn’t; at least not anymore, according to a friend of mine.

It’s a bit of sad news as there are some applications that I use that are only available as an AppImage, that I would otherwise have to compile from source to use (provided that the application is open-source). Guess we’ll just have to keep using XWayland as a workaround. Or maybe just make a fork and provide Wayland support that way.

Increase Power on AMD GPUs (and Fix Random Game Crashing)

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 18:18:33 +0000

UPDATE (1/19/2023): this guide has been updated towards step 3 when it comes to regenerating the bootloader config. (Regenerating config is dependent on distro used, not the GRUB version.)

A few days ago I talked about the 6700 XT and how much more bliss it has given my everyday Linux life in contrast to using a NVIDIA GPU. Thanks to some of the comments I got on the article, I’ve discovered it’s possible to increase the number of watts supplied to the GPU. This should increase game performance. Another commenter also brought out that it’s also possible to fix the random game crashing that can occur due to the fan not running properly. So I will document both of these steps!

By default, the 6700 XT can only get up to 186 W:

However, we can increase this to 213 W. The fix is very simple: we just need to append amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff to our GRUB configuration file. Appending this parameter will also allow us to have “full control” of the GPU; we’ll have more advanced options to choose from in CoreCtrl as far as voltage, GPU min/max frequency, and memory speed.

Disclaimer: this will effectively overclock your GPU. If you experience erratic behavior with your system (i.e. frequent game crashing), restore the GRUB file back to what it was before!

1. Make a Backup of GRUB

If your system is using GRUB, you should have a config file named grub in /etc/default/. Make a backup of this file before proceeding:

sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.bak

This way in the event your system somehow breaks on the next restart (which it shouldn’t), or are experiencing issues getting games to run without crashing, you’ll be able to restore the backup file.

2. Edit GRUB Configuration

Open up your preferred text editor as root and open up the GRUB config file. I like to use gedit:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Somewhere in that file should be a GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT= line, followed by a pair of quotation marks. In my case it looks like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Literally all we have to do is append amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff before the closing quotation mark. So my line would look like:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff"

Save the file and close the text editor.

3. Regenerate Bootloader Configuration

On Debian-, Ubuntu-, and Arch-based systems, regenerate the bootloader config file with:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

If you’re using a Fedora-based distro or openSUSE, use:

sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

4. Restart and See the Changes

Restart the computer and you should be good to go. If you haven’t already, install CoreCtrl.

Under your GPU, select “Advanced” from the dropdown menu next to Performance mode. Not only can I increase the GPU power to 213 W, I also have some other options available to me.

Click “Apply” and “Save” on the top-right corner of the window to save your changes. Note that you may need to restart the computer again if you notice some odd behavior with games (some games crashed on me the first couple of runs).

Observe the difference in framerates between 186 W (what the card could max out at previously) and 213 W:

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Okay, so the numbers may be a little hard to see (I keep my video file sizes small). But clearly at 213 W the GPU is squeezing in more power for a higher framerate. There are some moments where the game can only get 60 FPS at 186 W, but 90 at 213 W!

5. (Optional) Fix Random Game Crashing

Your GPU’s fan may not run at all on the default profile with CoreCtrl…which can cause the game to crash from overheating. In CoreCtrl, select “Curve” from the dropdown menu next to Ventilation. Check off “Fan start” as well. Hopefully your fan should be running now.

The fan might appear to be 0 RPM in the screenshot, but believe me, the fan runs when running a game now. I played Crisis Core remake for several hours after making this change and haven’t experienced a random crash since then.

Special thanks to Anonymous and Lancaban for their comments!

GE-Proton7-44 Adds HDR Patches for DXVK and VKD3D-Proton, Launcher Workaround for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 14:50:39 +0000

New update for GE-Proton is out! Wine has been updated to the latest bleeding edge and includes the Alt+Tab fix. Wine-staging has been rebased on the latest Proton-Wine bleeding edge. DXVK and VKD3D-Proton have both been updated to the latest git and includes the HDR patches. Proton imports upstream changes; it includes the prefix sync revert/fix.

Protonfixes have been added for the following titles:

Pentiment – workaround for the launch failure
Stronghold HD/Crusader/Extreme – multiplayer fix
Battle Fantia Revised Edition – framerate fix
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – launcher workaround

See the patch notes on GitHub. You can easily obtain this version by following my guide.

Cover image credit: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios

Sonority - You Got the Flute of Time!

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 19:23:42 +0000

Sonority. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, one of the definitions of the word is as follows:

The perceptibility or distinctness of speech sounds when spoken in a context in which stress, pitch, and sound duration are constant.

It could also be interpreted as the state of being sonorous, as in producing sound, full or loud in sound.

I don’t blame you if you’re a little confused as to what “sonority” or “sonorous” means. But that’s the literal name of the game, for which I am reviewing.

In Sonority you play as Esther. She’s apparently on a journey to assist a friend. But along the way she comes across ruins. Some pathways are blocked. The only way she can move forward is with the power of her flute. By solving puzzles with said instrument, she can move pillars up or down, or rotate them. Depending on the note played, the pillar will move up or down. You will therefore need to figure out what note to play on a particular stone, and then raise or lower the octave on the next stone. Figuring out the right notes to play will allow Esther to proceed further in the game.

I have to say, this is a really neat concept. You kind of get the idea of how music notation works. You’re not necessarily learning how to play a tune; you’re just figuring out what the right note is for a particular stone, then hoping that it worked out after Esther steps on the ground.

Puzzles get a little more difficult the further you get into the game. More notes become available to play to increase the sophistication of the puzzles. Along the way, Esther comes across a talking racoon. Though he is a bit cryptic, the racoon and Esther can understand each other and communitate along her journey. Esther will also come across stones with eyeballs that will stalk her every move. Yeah, it’s kind of odd. But still an interesting puzzle game.

I have come across a few issues. For example, depending on where Esther is located, the game can softlock. Since there’s no jumping in this game, if she walks onto a platform lower than what she’s already at, she might not be able to get herself back up, forcing the user to restart the game.

To my knowledge, there’s no “Apply” button when configuring the graphics settings in the main menu. So if you decide to change the resolution, for instance, it won’t apply when you start a game.

There’s also the oddball issue (although I think it got fixed with a recent patch) where in the middle of a cutscene, Esther can still play notes and tap her foot out of nowhere. This also happens when pausing the game and navigating through the options; pressing Down on the D-pad for example will still cause her to play the F note.

How Does it Steam Deck?

The game is Deck Verified. For once, I can actually agree with that rating. 16:10 is supported. You can’t lower the resolution by much (1152 x 720 at the smallest), but even then the resolution just goes back to 1280 x 800 since there’s no “Apply” button.

Other than that, the game is really well optimized. You can clock the TDP all the way down to 6 W at Ultra settings with the Deck’s native resolution and still get a solid 60 FPS. You can step it down a notch to 5 W if you want 40 FPS, and 4 W for 30 FPS.

Oh, and a nice bonus: the game is native to Linux. It might be using Unity as the engine, but it actually uses Vulkan as the backend rather than the archaic OpenGL that older versions of Unity were using.

If You Like Puzzles, It’s a Good Choice

Admittedly I haven’t spent too much time with Sonority (two hours). But I did enjoy it while I played it. I might have learned a thing or two about how musical notation works as well. It’s one of those games where you’re going to have to put your thinking cap on in order to proceed, but if that’s something you like, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick this up. According to HLTB, the main story takes about five hours to finish.

TL;DR

The good:

very well optimized for the Deck
native Linux support
interesting puzzles, using the power of music to get through

The not-so-good:

story/characters are a little corny
bugs that can softlock the game, or allow the character to still play notes during cutscenes or in the pause menu

Sonority is currently on sale on Steam for 30% off ($14).

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from Keymailer.

EVGA's Last Video Card: The Documentary

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 14:42:37 +0000

As I’m sure many of you are aware, EVGA is no longer making video cards. Gamers Nexus took the flight to Taiwan to document EVGA’s final days on making their last video card, seeing it get burnt to hell, then “resurrecting” it back to life and making it the most powerful 4090 there ever was. Per the video description:

This video documents the behind-the-scenes of the EVGA GPU division. The company has exited manufacturing video cards, but for now, the crew remains at EVGA working on final projects and supporting customers. We were given the unique and privileged opportunity to tour EVGA’s repair center, film processes previously secret, and show the teamwork that went into building EVGA.

You’ll see cards getting built by hand, including the sanding process that apparently takes two hours. You’ll see video cards getting set on fire, and EVGA being able to salvage the card via a “baking” and “re-balling” process. Really interesting video on the secrets behind the GPU industry, including how EVGA is so effective at their RMA process.

Check out the video on YouTube.

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Up/Down Cursor Keys to OSK, Pinned Notifications

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 03:29:41 +0000

New Steam Deck client out for beta and preview users. This update adds a fix for the OSK, adds Up/Down arrow keys to said OSK, decreases size of controller support icons, and a few other features. Patch notes are as follows:

General

fixed opening onscreen keyboard in-game causing input to no longer go to game.
added up/down cursor keys to keyboard, press shift then left/right cursor to use.
added option to ignore Steam Rewards on Account page if they were registered by another user on the device.
decreased size of the full & partial controller support icons on app portraits.
added pinned notifications for new inventory items, trade offers, async game turns, moderator messages, offline chat messages, and help request replies.

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Wine 8.0-rc4 Fixes 25 Bugs, Increases Rendering Speed on External Monitor

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 02:45:52 +0000

Wine 8.0 continues in the release candidate stages. RC4 just released, and with it are 25 bug fixes (remember, Wine 8.0 is in feature freeze; only bugs are getting ironed out at this point). Gaming-related fixes have been added for Guild Wars, Petz 4, and Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth. Patch notes are as follows:

#48553 Catia (CAD software) refuse to run installation on newest wine (<=4.18)
#51268 Assembler messages: Error: no such instruction: `xsavec (%esp)'
#51301 Any action that locks the cursor into place inside the Roblox Client window causes the cursor to freeze
#51420 Running any program in Wine causes 100% cpu usage in Xorg
#52089 d2d1:d2d1 fails in test_draw_geometry() on Wine
#52152 comctl32:edit gets unexpected heights in test_text_position_style() on Windows 10 1809+
#52429 Guild Wars: login not possible
#52557 GetNetworkParams loops forever on musl
#52749 winetricks dotnet35sp1: printfilterpipelinesvc.exe crashes in background
#52932 comctl32:edit & user32:edit have test_char_from_pos() failures on Windows with the UTF-8 codepage
#52994 mstask:task_trigger - test_GetNextRunTime() fails in Wine on date change
#53382 Slow rendering when connected to external monitor
#53536 ntdll:rtl - The 32-bit RtlUlonglongByteSwap() breaks test_RtlDecompressBuffer() on Windows
#53583 FindNLSStringEx reimplementation doesn’t match native
#53671 No objects are being rendered in any DX10/11 apps with older GPU drivers
#53837 HS_hevo_gc 8.6.1.2 fails to install
#54045 ntdll:rtl - test_RtlIpv6StringToAddress() fails on Windows 11
#54151 xactengine3_7:xact3 crashes when no speaker is connected
#54172 ddraw:ddraw1, ddraw:ddraw2, ddraw:ddraw4, ddraw:ddraw7 - test_window_position() gets the size of the wrong screen in Wine
#54180 Petz 4 has corrupt .pet files at startup
#54210 Wine fails to compile with Linux 4.11 headers (use of undefined AT_HWCAP2)
#54218 RTLD_SELF use breaks musl build since 8.0-rc1
#54263 Build of 7.22 fails with mingw-w64 10.0
#54264 Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 crashes on exit in xactengine notification callback
#54287 wineconsole: alternate screen buffer does not work

Patch notes can also been seen on WineHQ.

I Switched From NVIDIA to AMD. Here's What Happened

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 16:06:33 +0000

NVIDIA. The green giant is just about in every electronic you can think of. It’s in your Switch. In your handheld. In your tablet. In your console. Every review unit that I’ve received from System76, whether it be a desktop or laptop, was powered by discrete NVIDIA graphics. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tegra ends up in a phone someday.

The funny thing is, despite how proliferant NVIDIA is in devices, the company doesn’t really care about Linux users. Their Nouveau driver, while open-source, is complete garbage. Chances are if you’re on Linux and you want decent gaming performance, there’s a 98% chance you’re using their proprietary graphics driver stack. We’re starting to see a spark of hope with the new open-source NVK driver, created by some of the Collabora and Red Hat developers, but that’s going to need quite some time in order for users to make the switch. Intel is actually making some great progress with their discrete ARC cards starting with kernel 6.2 and Mesa 23, so that might become another option in the future besides AMD.

I’ve been a long time NVIDIA user and I grew tired of it. I finally executed my move to AMD. The weapon of choice? The XFX Speedster SWFT 309 Radeon RX 6700 XT. No, I’m not popular enough to get samples of the latest and greatest cards (cough ~~lucky-ass bastard~~ Phoronix cough). But I did wait patiently enough so that I could get a good deal on a used card. Got it for $290 a few weeks ago. Some of you poor lads told me that you’ve spent twice that amount on the same card just a few months ago while GPU prices were through the roof. Patience has its rewards (although, ironically, I tend to view myself as very impatient).

In brief overview, this 6700 XT in particular has the following:

base speed of 2,321 MHz; boost clock up to 2,581 MHz
12 GB GDDR6 VRAM
memory clock speed of 16 GBPS
uses RDNA 2, similar to the technology used in the Deck’s APU
three DisplayPorts (version 1.4)
one HDMI 2.1

It requires two 8-pin PCIe connectors…so if you plan on getting one of these, make sure your PSU has this. Ideally you also want your PSU to be 650 W or higher.

It was quite a big upgrade compared to the 1660 Super that I was using for about three years. Just observe the difference in size:

Heh, it barely fits inside my Micro ATX case:

And yeah, in case you were wondering about the PSU in this picture, I did upgrade to a 750 W later on.

So, what has it been like switching from the 1660 Super to the 6700 XT? You think it’s just been a bed of roses? Well, actually, it has been. For the most part, anyway.

No Proprietary Driver

I think the biggest relief that came from switching to AMD is the fact that I no longer have to put up with proprietary drivers. Don’t get me wrong – the NVIDIA driver is pretty decent for what it’s worth. But because it’s proprietary, as I’ve said many times before, everyone is at the mercy of the green giant whenever there’s a bug or a security loophole. There’s no one to wait for other than NVIDIA to patch these, and for all NVIDIA could care, they could take their sweet time doing so.

It’s not just that though. Distro maintainers have the burden of trying to get in touch with NVIDIA to include their drivers in their distro to otherwise avoid legal issues. With Mesa, I don’t have to worry about that. I can install just about any distro and have the Mesa drivers included out-of-the-box, no questions asked.

What about upgrading the distro? On Nobara Project, you have to remove the NVIDIA drivers entirely before upgrading. No need to do that on AMD.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like the NVIDIA drivers take up your entire system. In other words, your distro’s life will depend on those drivers after they’ve been installed. If you decide to uninstall them for whatever reason, then reboot, you will be greeted with a terminal window, with no graphical environment whatsoever because there’s nothing else to back up the display server. I’ve had scenarios like that happen, and at that point my distro has pretty much been destroyed, even after re-installing the drivers. Only choice I have at that point is to back up my data then re-install the entire distro.

Open-Source Drivers…Funded by Valve

AMD and Intel’s graphics drivers are powered by the Mesa graphics drivers, which are open-source. And, if you think the developers aren’t getting paid, they are, and they’re certainly not slacking off. Last month, when The Verge interviewed Valve’s Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais, they had mentioned that the company is paying over 100 developers to work on Mesa, Proton, and Vulkan. That work isn’t just going towards the Steam Deck: it’s going toward everything that uses Mesa, including desktop AMD GPUs, CPUs, Intel CPUs/GPUs, and even NVK. So pretty much everyone will benefit, except NVIDIA. Drivers are constantly getting updated with bug fixes, new features, and more.

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Bonus: because the drivers are open-source, you are free to contribute if you know C/C++. Found a bug? Know how to fix it? Submit a pull request!

No Vendor Lock-In

Unlike NVIDIA, AMD doesn’t try to lock you in to their GPUs in order to use certain features. AMD’s FSR feature is available across all GPU vendors.

Even though the community has come up with workarounds for using technologies like DLSS and GameStream outside of NVIDIA GPUs, the fact that NVIDIA tries to make this a lock-in feature in the first place disgusts me.

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No Ads When Installing Drivers

Okay, this is more so a Windows issue than it is Linux. But last time I used Windows, I could not use GeForce Experience without the need to have an account and logged in. Prior to this, no login was required. But NVIDIA decided that you need an account now for convenience’ sake. So now you’re forced to install a specific driver version in order to avoid having to log in.

Image credit: PCWorld

Not only that, but when you do install the NVIDIA driver on Windows, you have ads while it’s installing.

On Linux, this isn’t necessarily a problem, as you will likely be installing the driver via the terminal or some sort of GUI. But still, this bugs me. Why see ads when you’ve already paid handsomely for a new GPU?

Better Game Compatibility

I can only think of one example, but it’s an example regardless. Sonic Frontiers plays much better on AMD on Linux in contrast to NVIDIA. The framerate is much higher, gameplay is more smooth, and there’s little to no crashing. Originally I had suspected that it was due to the Denuvo DRM that was bottlenecking the GPU, but apparently it’s due to the texture format. Someone had left a comment on the Proton GitHub issue tracker:

There’s a texture format it absolutely chokes on causing the slow down. The lead DXVK dev has said he can fix it on the DXVK side but it would take quite a bit of work. And since it shouldn’t even be DXVK’s job to fix we kinda just have to hope NVIDIA sees and fixes their driver.

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Seems like NVIDIA is aware of the issue, but the fix “is in progress.” So no ETA just yet.

Wayland: Better Performance and Security

NVIDIA relies on X.Org for displaying graphics on Linux. X11 server development pace has just hit a two-decade low. I’m going to call this out: X.Org is abandonware at this point. No new features are being developed for it; it’s just all maintainence now.

NVIDIA tries to work around this by using XWayland, which, according to the Arch Wiki, is “an X server that runs under Wayland and provides compatibility for native X11 applications that are yet to provide Wayland support.” But notice:

XWayland uses X as the display server, so it doesn’t have Wayland’s security features
apparently there’s “degraded performance” with XWayland on NVIDIA compared to X11
some applications may not work on XWayland due to it not being fully backward-compatible with X11

Image credit: Phoronix

AMD adapts to newer technologies such as Wayland to offer “better performance, code maintainability, and security.” Wayland still has a ways to go before it becomes a “true” successor to X11, but even now, it has become quite mature. In fact, games run via Wayland perform only slightly worse compared to X.Org. Since Phoronix benchmarked this almost a year ago, for all we know Wayland could do even better now!

Disadvantages

Of course, there is always the flip side of the coin. It’s not all advantageous when switching to AMD on Linux. One issue in particular is regards to some games that are a little…crash-y. As I had alluded to in my Nobara impressions article, Crisis Core remake crashes at random. There’s a variety of factors that come into play, but I have a feeling it has to do with having the latest mesa-git Vulkan drivers. I should try downgrading to the latest stable Vulkan drivers and see if that makes a difference.

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Other Notes

I was going to make the comment that on AMD, you can’t use GPU encoding while video editing. Turns out you can, at least on Nobara Project. With Shotcut, I was able to export a 1080p/60 FPS, 25-second clip with GPU encoding enabled. Took 10 seconds. On the other hand, exporting the same clip without GPU encoding took 21 seconds. The file size difference is pretty big; the GPU encoded video is 79.8 MB. The clip without GPU encoding is just 34.9 MB. Still, it appears I can export videos faster with GPU encoding enabled. I wonder if Nobara has AV1 enabled. Because I’m pretty sure GPU encoding on AMD actually takes longer than just using the CPU.

If you were looking for some benchmarks, well, I’m sorry to disappoint: I don’t have them here. But I will say upgrading to the 6700 XT was a huge jump from the 1660 Super. I’m clocking well over 120 FPS on Crisis Core remake on the highest settings, at 1080p resolution upscaled to 1440p with FSR. High on Life gets around 90 FPS on the highest settings at 1080p, upscaled with FSR. I’m wondering if the performance is bottlenecked a bit with my older CPU, which is a i7-9700K.

According to CoreCtrl, the max power wattage of the card is 186 W…is this normal? I think the card is supposed to use a higher wattage than that…although I have not been able to confirm this. The product page for the card doesn’t mention the power consumption it uses.

AMD is the Way to Go on Linux

Intel ARC, as I had alluded to earlier, is making better and better progress as the kernel and the Mesa graphics driver stack continues to mature (the A770 is roughly the equivalent of a 6600). NVK, in a few years’ time, might actually make open-source gaming on NVIDIA possible. But for now, if you’re a Linux gamer, I strongly suggest going with AMD, for the reasons I’ve listed above (why do you think Valve went with AMD for the Deck?).

TL;DR

The good:

open-source graphics drivers that are actively maintained, contributed, and funded
issues with graphics drivers can be worked on as soon as possible since they’re open-source
no need to install graphics drivers post-installation of a distro
better game compatibility
better security with the adoption of Wayland as the display server
a nice boost in performance compared to the 1660 Super
AMD doesn’t try to lock you in to their GPUs for certain features, such as FSR

The not-so-good:

some games tend to crash for X, Y, or Z reason; likely due to bleeding-edge Mesa drivers

Weekly News Recap (Kodi Steam Deck Support, Pangolin by System76, Fedora/Vanilla OS)

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 04:30:50 +0000

Steam Deck

Wednesday’s Deck client beta update adds rollup of gifts in the quick access menu and groups commands if they’re attached to the same controller input
Thursday’s Deck client beta update fixes opting into game beta branches and fixes patch notes on Downloads page
Decky Loader gets updated; the homebrew plugin launcher can now be installed simply by pressing the “Download” button on the GitHub page
Dolphin emulator gets Deck performance improvements
be careful where you buy your Deck!

News

Steam P2P looks like it will be coming soon
open-source NVK driver for NVIDIA GPUs is making progress; games can run through it!
Pop!_OS enables ZRAM for faster gaming performance on systems with low RAM

Hardware

System76 unveils the upgraded, AMD-based Pangolin laptop with the Ryzen 6800U
Boiling Steam takes a look at the Nreal Air AR glasses
Phoronix benchmarks Radeon vs. Intel ARC. ARC is looking like it’s making decent progress!

Software Updates

Bottles 50 adds GameScope improvements and enables VKD3D in the Gaming environment
Proton Experimental 2023.01.13 improves CJK character rendering and adds a fix for Football Manager 2023
Nobara Project 37 adds GameScope HDR patches and upgrades GLIBC while retaining EAC fixes
Wine 8.0-rc4 fixes 25 bugs
Kodi 20 gets Deck control support!

Other

if you’ve thought about using Fedora, you should give it a shot
Vanilla OS is certainly an interesting distro
GOL puts out an article in regards to supporting the projects you “use and appreciate”

Bottles 50 Adds GameScope Improvements, Enables VKD3D in the Gaming Environment

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 03:38:40 +0000

As is typical around the 14th of each month, Bottles gets a new release. Seems like they’re adopting a new naming scheme. Instead of going by year/month/day, it’s now just one number. I’m guessing “50” indicates that this is the 50th update.

Beside that, here’s the changes:

Features

support userdir/ placeholder for installers checks
enable VKD3D in the Gaming environment
async fetch of components, installers and dependencies

Frontend

GameScope improvements
updated link for connection checking
improve sentence in installers
smoother UI with async code
make app name untranslatable, disambiguate Bottles & bottles
remove FileChooser class
port primary menu to MenuModel

Backend

improve health check
add import_bundle on dependency installation

Fixes

fix typos in strings and update translations
dependency replace_font step
create_bottle_from_config() nvapi check
ComponentManager.install() deadlock
wrong exception catching using pycurl
slow replace_font
replace spin-lock with threading.Lock
being able to use local repos with pycurl
onboard dialog shows “All ready” when not ready
Bottles crash if bad encoding in Steam file
components not updating when install in UI
FSR-related issues
wrong call to update_programs()
hint texts
add dest to cabextract on local files
wrong combo selected for VKD3D
broken back button if DXVK and VKD3D are disabled
nvngx.dll not copied under Flatpak, UI consistency
add runner libs to fix embedded GStreamer not finding them

Other

translations update
remove JSON manifest
improve check_runners() log
updated and improved packaging
contributing info updated
don’t override GST_PLUGIN_SYSTEM_PATH if runner doesn’t bundle GStreamer
dynamic length of progress bar according to terminal size
Addresses bug from patoolib
make VKD3D not enable-able without DXVK

Not too long afterwards 50.1 released with a fix for the library not getting updated when renaming a bottle, as well as a critical error when not using a NVIDIA GPU.

Special thanks to StoneMoe, koplo199, underlinejakez, SuperSamus, dkeruza-neo, TheEvilSkeleton, kbdharun, weblate, francescomasala, Kinsteen, and jannuary for making this release possible!

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Opting Into Game Beta Branches, Fixes Patch Notes on Downloads Page

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 02:43:57 +0000

Steam Deck gets a new beta client update with fixes for patch notes, the OSK, joystick deadzone, and more. Users should no longer get the “Maximum number of clients reached” message. Patch notes can now be viewed on the Downloads page. OSK can now be activated in New BPM and the Steam window isn’t focused.

Patch notes are as follows:

General

fixed regression causing “Maximum number of clients reached” issue
fixed issue opting in to some game beta branches
fixed Patch Notes button on Downloads page entries
allow onscreen keyboard to be activated while in New Big Picture Mode and Steam window is not focused
fixed some issues where onscreen keyboard and controller configurator windows could not be reactivated after closing

Steam Input

fixed issue w/ Joystick Deadzone visualization not updating

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

Proton Experimental Improves CJK Character Rendering, Adds Fix for Football Manager 2023

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 02:35:14 +0000

Proton Experimental update is all bug fixes. Except one, which is an improvement in regards to CJK characters rendering “in many games.” No new compatilble titles with this update.

Patch notes are as follows:

fix A Plague Tale: Innocence showing on-screen keyboard when starting the game on the Steam Deck.
fix rendering issues during cutscenes in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.
fix Japanese keyboard input in Final Fantasy XIV Online.
fix Football Manager 2023 crashing when trying to return from a player profile.
fix experimental regression: Fall in Labyrinth started crashing on some setups.
improve CJK characters rendering in many games including NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Sports Interactive/Sega

Pangolin Laptop by System76 Gets Ryzen 6800U Upgrade, Bigger Battery

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 21:40:21 +0000

The AMD-powered Pangolin laptop by System76 will be returning. Not only will it return, but it will come with quite a few upgrades. Namely:

AMD Ryzen 6800U processor
DDR5 memory
PCIe 4 NVMe
refresh rate increased from 60 Hz to 144 Hz
physical privacy switch for both the webcam and mic
70 Wh battery – supposedly this will make the laptop last for 10 hours on average
magnesium alloy body – should withstand “the occasional ding or drop”

It’s nice to finally have an option for AMD for System76’s hardware. The 6800U in particular means it will get performance similar to the Deck, if not a little better. The battery is almost double that of the Deck, so that will certainly help (I’d wager 3-4 hours of gaming battery life). The 144 Hz refresh rate is definitely a welcome upgrade as well.

Specs are as follows:

Operating System: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 7 6800U: 2.7 up to 4.7 GHz - 8 Cores - 16 Threads
Display: 15.6" 1920×1080 FHD, Matte Finish, 144 Hz
Graphics: AMD Radeon™ 680M
Memory: 32 GB LPDDR5 @ 6400 MHz
Storage: 2 x M.2 SSD(PCIe NVMe). Up to 4TB total.
Expansion: 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, SD Card Reader
Networking: Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Video Ports: HDMI 2.0
Camera: 1.0M 720p HD Webcam
Battery: Li-Ion - 70 Wh
Dimensions: 14.59" × 9.76" × 0.71" (37.06 × 24.79 × 1.80 cm)
Weight: 3.95 lbs (1.79kg)

The Pangolin will start at $1,300 and start shipping “around the first half of February.” You can see more details on System76’s website. I might be able to get my hands on a review unit, so stay tuned for that!

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Rollup of Gifts in QAM, Groups Commands If They're Attached to the Same Controller Input

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 21:14:29 +0000

New client update out for beta and preview users. Supposedly changing download regions no longer requires a restart, but they still do, based on my testing. A rollup of gifts received has been added to the Quick Access Menu under notifications. Steam Input, desktop Linux, and the virtual keyboard got some fixes as well. Full patch notes are as follows.

General

Changing download regions no longer requires restarting the Steam client
Add a rollup of gifts received in the Quick Access > Notifications area

Steam Input

Controller configurator now groups commands if they are attached to the same input
Controller configuration browsing screen can now preview configurations and the selection processes now previews then applies instead of directly selecting the configuration

Desktop Linux

Fixed some errors causing the Library not to render properly
Fix the “Start in Big Picture Mode” setting not updating
Center the navigation column in the Big Picture Overlay vertically to match the rest of the main menu

Virtual Keyboard

Standalone keyboard can now be brought up outside of Big Picture Mode
Fixed some issues using the Paste button outside of a web context

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

I Joined the Fedora Bandwagon (Nobara Project). Here's My Thoughts

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 18:16:56 +0000

Back in June, when I first talked about Nobara Project, I had mentioned this:

If Arch ever breaks on me I might just switch over to this.

Well, that day has finally come. Although, it wasn’t necessarily Arch’s fault; it was more so my own mistake of breaking the system that finally gave me the excuse to try out Nobara Project. At any rate, I’ve heard time and again the good things about Fedora, so I wanted to give this distro a shot.

Please do NOT interpret this article as a review. This is more so just a quick impressions on Fedora/Nobara Project while using it over the past few weeks.

In case you’re not aware, Nobara Project is a modified version of Fedora that comes with a few tweaks, particularly in the gaming aspect and the pre-installed suite of applications. Per the description on the official website:

The Nobara Project, to put it simply, is a modified version of Fedora Linux with user-friendly fixes added to it. Fedora is a very good workstation OS, however, anything involving any kind of 3rd party or proprietary packages is usually absent from a fresh install…This project aims to fix most of those issues and offer a better gaming, streaming, and content creation experience out of the box. More importantly, we want to be more point and click friendly, and avoid the basic user from having to open the terminal.

The distro was created by Thomas Crider (GloriousEggroll), the person who’s also responsible for the development of the excellent GE-Proton. I’ll have to ask him where he got the name “Nobara” from (the only thing that showed up on DuckDuckGo was the name of a girl from a Japanese anime). Regardless, I kind of dig the fact that the distro doesn’t have “OS” appended to it. Just keep it simple, like Nobara Project. I like it.

So…this article ended up being a lot longer than I expected. If you’re just here for Nobara itself, you can skip to the appropriate section. The next few sections will go over vanilla Fedora and the benefits it has.

Stable, While Cutting-Edge

It’s nice having bleeding-software with Arch. Only problem is the software has barely been tested. So while you might be getting the benefits of kernel 6.1 with faster btrfs speeds, you’re also going to have suspend issues. Your version of GLIBC might have upgraded to 2.36, but now certain games with EAC won’t run.

Image credit: Constant Tech

Even though the latter issue may have been patched later on, the problem still remains that users will come across regressions from time-to-time, due to these packages being pushed out before they’re ready for prime time. So rather than having users deal with regressions, Fedora stays behind. Right now, on Nobara 37, I’m on kernel 6.0-18. Basically, the latest stable kernel as of the time of writing this. And Nobara in particular already has the EAC regression fixed for GLIBC 2.36. So, the beauty of Fedora is it strikes a good balance between having the latest software, while also ensuring it’s not broken.

A More Robust Package Manager

When updating packages on Ubuntu-based distros, you’d typically run:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

On Fedora, the DNF (Dandified YUM) package manager simplifies this to just one command:

sudo dnf update

Although you may need to pass the --refresh flag to force the cache to refresh if you run the command twice within a three-hour period. The system will not only check for updates, but ask if you want to upgrade any of the packages if there is an update available.

As you can see here, DNF will install six packages, upgrade 115 of them, and uninstall seven. The thing that I also like about DNF is that it forcefully makes you type in “y” if you want to proceed. By default if you press Enter without typing “y” in, the packages won’t upgrade, unlike other package managers. This makes you cognizant of what you’re doing, and makes sure that you actually are ready to upgrade. This same principle applies if you’re installing a new package or uninstalling an existing one.

Here’s another benefit of DNF: let’s say you tried to run an application through the terminal that isn’t installed on your system. Depending on the package, you’ll get a prompt asking if you want to install said application. You don’t get that on Ubuntu, or Arch for that matter. Just get a dead “package not found.”

COPR - The AUR Equivalent for Fedora

Some might argue, “Arch has the benefit of the AUR – you can get just about any kind of package!” True that. However, Fedora essentially has an AUR equivalent: Community Projects (COPR). For instance, if you wanted to upgrade to kernel 6.1 anyway, ignoring the suspend issues, you could add this repo and install the package from it to your system.

COPR might not have the same amount of packages available as the AUR, but as Fedora becomes more popular, I would imagine so will the COPR getting filled with community packages. (Don’t be surprised if you see me add Slippi at some point.)

Embracing New Technologies Before Anyone Else

Here’s the funny thing: even though Fedora tries to be stable, it’s also the distro that tries to push new technologies forward before anyone else. For example, back in late 2020 with the release of Fedora 33, it uses btrfs as the default file system when installing. Most distros today, including Pop!_OS, still use ext4 as the default. Now whether you prefer ext4 over btrfs or vice versa, is your preference. But btrfs does have the advantage of compression. When I switched my Steam Deck’s file system over to btrfs, I saved over 50 GB of space! So, if you want to be able to install more games on your system, btrfs is the way to go.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) – for which Fedora serves as the upstream source – was also the one to embrace the first stable release of Flatpak back in December 2016 along with Debian. It wouldn’t be until later on that other distros would adopt this sandboxing technology, for keeping your root files untouched. Flatpaks would become popular enough that ChimeraOS and SteamOS 3 would use it so users could still run their favorite applications while keeping the file system immutable.

Finally, Fedora 33 had ZRAM enabled out-of-the-box, providing increased performance in games on systems with low RAM with the use of compression. Just a few days ago, Pop!_OS incorporated this. Fedora already had it for two years.

Fedora Keeps Things Vanilla

Many distributions ship with GNOME out-of-the-box. These distributions will often modify GNOME to make it more akin to their users’ taste. Fedora keeps GNOME as vanilla as possible, with little to no tweaks. Other packages like the kernel also remain largely untouched.

Image credit: How-To Geek

Nobara does come with a few tweaks, however, which I’ll get into now.

Difference Between Nobara Project and Vanilla Fedora

Fedora itself is great, but Nobara Project takes things a step further by including non-free software, such as the NVIDIA graphics drivers – which, on vanilla Fedora, can be a bit of a pain. But there’s tons of other features, improvements, changes, the whole nine yards, which I’ve listed below.

Enhancements

patched kernel with:
- Zen patches
- OpenRGB
- AMD CPPC (optimizes Ryzen CPUs, although from the looks of it it doesn’t seem to do much better)
- AMDGPU enabled for pre-Polaris cards instead of Radeon
- Steam Deck support and Windows Surface support
- Waydroid support
- better ASUS laptop support
- fix for simpledrm on NVIDIA
- better VFIO IOMMU group control
pre-installed applications:
- Steam
- Lutris
- MangoHUD
- GOverlay
- GameScope
- OnlyOffice
- CUPS/printer drivers
- Vapoursynth with ffms2 patch
- Wine
- ProtonUp-Qt
GNOME:
- VRR support for Mutter, GNOME’s window manager
- X11 fractional scaling support
- GNOME extension manager can auto-update without needing the GNOME extension app
latest Mesa drivers and mesa-git Vulkan drivers
NVIDIA drivers are automatically installed if said GPU is detected during installation
you have the option of installing video codecs after installation
a package is provided for easy installation of xone and xpadneo
better Nouveau Wayland support
GameScope, GOverlay, MangoHUD, and vkBasalt all “regularly updated”
Blender includes ffmpeg support and HIP support for AMD GPU rendering
DaVanci Resolve has dependencies installed so you will be all set after installing said application
patches for OBS Studio, including a browser plugin, Vulkan/OpenGL capture, NVENC, PipeWire audio capture, and more
Wine includes 32-bit/64-bit dependencies for easier Lutris and Wine gaming
Discord comes with “enhancement launch options” (but the application isn’t included by default)
League of Legends can be run via Flatpak with an included patch

Nobara running on Deck

Changes

Flathub and RPMFusion repos enabled by default
GNOME: increased wait kill timer from five seconds to 30 – useful for games that take longer than five seconds to load, such as League of Legends
max parallel downloads with Fedora’s DNF package manager increased from three to six
vm.max_map_count = 16777216 set by default for Star Citizen
Nautilus, GNOME’s file manager, restores the classic type-ahead functionality, the toggle between breadcrumb and text navigation, and fixes drag n’ drop functionality when extracting files
AppArmor replaces SELinux since it’s “more user-friendly, less intrusive, and easier to write policies for”

Fixes

patched GLIBC that borked certain EAC games and fixes Chrome Embedded Framework (CEF) compatibility with outdated CEF versions
Wine fix when creating new prefixes
locked FPS fixed on XWayland
fix for Dying Light

Wow. Quite a list, huh?

Editions

Nobara comes in three flavors: official, GNOME, and KDE. Official is basically GNOME with a few extensions enabled to make it more akin to Windows, with a taskbar at the bottom, a launcher on the bottom-left, your favorite applications next to that, and status icons on the lower-right.

I actually kind of dig the official flavor, a lot. See, vanilla GNOME is just way too simplified for me. In contrast, while KDE has a more familiar desktop appearance, it’s much too bloated for my tastes. So the official flavor is perfect for me. It’s GNOME with more sophistication, and if you’re a Windows user you’ll definitely appreciate the similar appearance.

Prior to downloading any of the flavors, you will have a EULA to either agree or disagree. Obviously, if you don’t agree, you won’t be able to download the ISO.

Nobara Welcome

After Nobara is installed (I’d have a few screenshots showcasing the installer but sadly no VM software is working for me at the moment), you’ll be greeted with a welcome screen. Frankly, I’m turned off by any sort of pop-ups that appear on my screen when I log in – but thankfully there’s a checkbox that you can tick to disable the window from appearing on future logins (you can open this back up later on under the “Accessories” menu from the launcher).

On this welcome screen you can:

update your system
install patented media codecs/libraries (although you may have been prompted to install this before)
install the proprietary NVIDIA/AMD drivers (although you may have been prompted to install this before)
install webapps
install/remove Blender, Kdenlive, OBS Studio, Discord
install xone/xpadneo drivers
install GE-Proton
launch the GNOME Software Center/KDE Discover, depending on what DE you’re using
customize the look and feel of your desktop
visit the troubleshooting and documentation sections on the official site
join the Nobara Discord or the subreddit
open various links to contribute to the project

It’s actually kind of nice. You can do all of this with just a click of a button. No need to enter a terminal. Certainly useful for newcomers to Linux. I’m not sure if it was intentional to add “Update my system” to both the First Steps and Troubleshoot Issues tabs, but to me I dislike the duplicate option. Just pick one tab or the other.

Another improvement I’d like to see is, say for example I install the third-party media codecs. After they’re installed, the welcome screen still says “Launch”. There should be a change in the button label to indicate that they’ve been installed. And there should also be an option to uninstall if for some reason the user changes their mind.

Different Software Managers

A note when it comes to installing software on Nobara with a GUI – you have both the Nobara Package Manager and the GNOME Software Center (or KDE Discover if you’re using Plasma). The difference I’ve seen between the two applications is I would use the Nobara Package Manager for installing native RPM packages. The GNOME Software Center is useful for installing Flatpaks. Just try not to get yourself confused between the two software managers.

Impressions

I like Nobara. As a long time Arch and Pop!_OS user, it wasn’t as much of a learning curve than I thought it was going to be. It’s stable, yet still provides up-to-date software, and includes bleeding-edge Mesa Vulkan drivers. Very useful for my 6700 XT. It’s also nice to have a bunch of gaming utilities set up out-of-the-box. I didn’t need to look for and install Steam, MangoHUD, GOverlay, and ProtonUp-Qt – those were all provided, saving me some time.

Interestingly enough GameMode is NOT included with Nobara, but you can install it with sudo dnf install gamemode.

Apparently the patched kernel includes FUTUX2, which supposedly improves performance for games played with Proton. I haven’t really seen a difference to be honest, at least based on the naked eye. Regardless, the gaming experience has been pretty great so far. Not perfect though, as I’ll get into later.

I did have an issue concerning hotkeys with OBS Studio. The only way I could get hotkeys to work is if the application is in focus. This isn’t a issue with Nobara necessarily; it’s more so a problem with Wayland. The only solution I found for Fedora specifically was by digging up a year-old Reddit thread, and even then I had to modify the commands a bit to make sure it was working on my end.

Another problem is occasional game crashing with Crisis Core remake. On Steam Deck, the game plays perfectly, without any random crashing. On Nobara with my 6700 XT, however, there is random crashing from time to time, particularly when performing a Limit Break or before a cutscene triggers. There’s a variety of factors as to why this is: it could be the bleeding-edge Mesa Vulkan drivers, it could be GE-Proton, it could be the FUTEX2…I’m not sure. Disabling GameMode didn’t help, and downgrading GE-Proton didn’t help either. I’d have to do some more testing to see if I can replicate the issue across other games.

I’m kind of curious why Nobara went with OnlyOffice as the pre-installed office suite rather than LibreOffice. I do recall Manjaro getting backlash for including said suite with their installer some time ago. Was there any particular reason why Nobara adopted this move? Can’t say that I’m a fan of this decision.

Arch? Only if I Need To

Don’t get me wrong: I still like Arch. But going forward I’m only going to use it if I really need bleeding-edge software for some reason. As I said, Fedora keeps packages new, while at the same time making sure they actually don’t break on the user. The DNF package manager is more robust in my opinion, there’s the COPR for obtaining community-maintained packages, it uses btrfs by default, and ZRAM is enabled. On top of this Nobara’s spin of Fedora with the “official” desktop environment is great, it provides most of the gaming-related packages I need out-of-the-box, comes with a few gaming-oriented tweaks, and most, if not everything can be done without the use of a terminal, thanks to the welcome screen.

I did have a few issues with hotkeys and Crisis Core remake suffering from a few random crashes. The former issue is more so Wayland’s fault though. As far as the latter, I’ll need to investigate what’s causing the crash. Also not a fan of OnlyOffice being included in the installation. But Nobara Project is still awesome. Thanks, Eggy!

TL;DR

The good:

more robust package manager
COPR allows users to install unofficial packages maintained by the community
embraces new technologies before other distros
cutting-edge software that has still been tested before it goes out to the public
“official” Nobara flavor makes GNOME more Windows-like in appearance
plenty of gaming packages provided out-of-the-box, along with many tweaks to the kernel for gaming performance boosts

The not-so-good:

crashing issues with Crisis Core remake
welcome screen could use a few improvements as far as duplicate options and letting the user know whether a certain package is installed or not
OnlyOffice included with base install
hotkey issues with OBS Studio (more so a Wayland issue though)

Want to give Nobara Project a shot? Head over to the official site to get started!

Open-Source NVIDIA Driver NVK Making Progress

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 17:01:12 +0000

A while back I had talked about the new NVK driver that will eventually replace NVIDIA’s Nouveau driver for Linux. We’re starting to see some slow, yet steady progress on the driver.

Mastodon user @etarsis managed to get The Talos Principle running through this open-source driver. At a slideshow, headache-inducing five frames-per-second, and at just a tiny resolution of 1,024 x 576 pixels, it’s not exactly ready for prime time just yet. Still, this is great progress. We can actually get games to run at this point, even though the framerates are poor. It will be awesome to finally have an open-source alternative to the proprietary NVIDIA drivers once this becomes more mature.

Cover image credit: @etarsus

Pop!_OS Enables ZRAM, Increasing Available RAM and Improving Game Performance

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 02:54:27 +0000

System76’s Pop!_OS distribution now enables ZRAM. This is thanks to Pop!_OS developer Michael Murphy. Per the Tweet from the official Pop!_OS account, this will increase “the amount of free memory your system has available.” Supposedly this adds “increased FPS in games, or faster simulations and compiler runs,” especially on systems with a low amount of RAM. Someone on the pull request commented that on a PC with 8 GB RAM, the result of ZRAM enablement was “a solid boost from sometimes 80 FPS to 120 FPS (my refresh rate) and other times from 80 FPS to 90 FPS.”

Another commenter noted this:

I tested on RAM configurations between 4GB and 64GB…the most extreme case of this making a difference was a 10-year-old ThinkPad with 8GB of RAM. I was able to play Control for a while at around 30 FPS. It did still crash, but it was working for a bit. Without this PR it showed around 11 FPS as it loaded the menu and then crashed.

You can see more details from the pull request, which has now been merged with Pop!_OS.

Donation Page Now Live

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 06:13:24 +0000

The title says it all. You can support me in one of three ways:

I did try looking into Flattr as an additional payment method, but since it’s for businesses I needed a business number, which I don’t have.

Patreon and Ko-Fi supporters get access to a private Discord channel. Of course, I’m open to any other suggestions as far as perks go. Ko-Fi donors also have the choice of choosing a one-time donation or a recurring monthly billing cycle. Please note that if you choose to donate via Liberapay, I will know who you are, as I have anonymity disabled. Why? Because I want to send you a personal thank you if you choose to donate. (I can reverse this decision though if there is enough demand for it.)

Just to give you an idea of the costs involved with keeping LGC around, here’s a breakdown.

I’m using my own server on my home network, and hosting the site with open-source software. The only “cost” there is the slight increase in the electricity bill, keeping the server on 24/7.

Keeping the linuxgamingcentral.org domain name is $20/year.

The linuxgamingcentral(at)pm(dot)me email address is powered by ProtonMail. This is roughly $40/year with the Mail Plus subscription plan.

Plausible Analytics is currently $200/year. If I ever get more than 100k monthly pageviews, I will have to upgrade my subscription, which would tack on another $100/year. Yes, this is rather expensive, but I chose to go with Plausible rather than Google Analytics, for reasons that I’ve stated way back in March. Basically, it’s for your privacy. Even though Google Analytics might be “free” in a sense, it would collect a lot more data than just what you’re clicking on…you would become the product.

Altogether, it’s $260/year for the base costs. This does not include the games or hardware that I pay for for review (unless the article states otherwise), nor does it cover my contributions to content creators and FOSS projects. It also doesn’t cover the voluntary time and effort that I put forth in making sure the site is consistently getting updated with new posts and information to read. This is just the primary meat and potatoes to keep LGC around. It’s really the Plausible Analytics that are taking the bulk of that bill.

Now, I know for a fact I would never get enough patrons to cover this. Nevertheless, if you do decide to support me, even if it’s as little as $1/month, the fact that you’re donating means more to me than your money. It means that you appreciate all the work I do to keep you up-to-date on everything going on in the Linux gaming and Steam Deck world.

I have put a link in the navigation bar. As I’ve said before, my goal will be to keep donation reminders or links as least obtrusive and annoying as possible. Believe me, I know the feeling when I visit certain websites and the Patreon link is all over my face. It doesn’t help that not just one website does that, but multiple websites do. Every six months or so I’ll have a dedicated post – or perhaps a Toot on Mastodon – reminding readers that keeping LGC around does not come free, and that will be it. There won’t be a “Support me” link anywhere on an article, be it at the beginning, somewhere in the middle, or the end. Just the link in the navigation bar and that’s it. I hope that’s fair to everyone.

Even if you choose not to donate, you can still give me support in other ways. For example, if you find an article that you like, sharing it on social media, YouTube, Discord, etc. helps me out a lot, especially if you have a large amount of followers. I need all the traffic that I can get, and sometimes I get tired of spamming my own posts (I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve annoyed a few users over on r/linux_gaming for self-promoting my posts either).

Once again, thank you for the support.

Transferring Games Between Your PC and Deck Will Soon Be A Lot Easier

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 05:05:13 +0000

Steam data miner and SteamDB founder Pavel Djundik discovered way back in October peer-to-peer Steam downloads on the local area network.

Image credit: @thexpaw

Then, just this past Friday, Pavel found a string in the last Steam update:

This feature allows your PC to transfer game files to and from other PCs or Steam Decks on your local network, reducing your Internet traffic while downloading or updating a game.

According to his Tweet, this “can limit to own devices, friends, or any user.”

To confirm this, @RafaCavalm shared a screenshot of this option. It looks like there will be a dropdown menu available in Steam Settings -> Downloads. Available options will be:

Off - don’t allow any transfer
Allow transfers to/from my own devices
Allow transfers to/from my Steam Friends
Allow transfers to/from any user

Image credit: @RafaCavalm

This is going to be very convenient. As someone who is constantly switching between desktop and the Deck, this will eliminate a lot of hassle having to install the same game across two different platforms. You could have the games downloaded on desktop, then quickly transfer these games locally via P2P to your Deck, or vice versa. This will also preserve bandwidth on your WAN.

Although, a question that comes up is, say for example I have 750 GB worth of games installed on my desktop. Then I wanted to transfer those games to my 512 GB Deck. How exactly is that going to work? Will there be an option to transfer only specific games at that point? Will there be built-in error handling to prevent the Deck from getting overloaded with too much space? Will be interesting to see.

Since Pavel had discovered QR code login functionality prior to it actually becoming a reality later on, I certainly have reason to believe that this will be coming. It’s now just a matter of when.

Cover image credit: @RafaCavalm

Vanilla OS - Containerize Your System Like Nobody's Business

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 13:21:19 +0000

Vanilla OS, per the description on the official website, is “an Ubuntu Linux-based Point Release distribution that receives updates at the right time, neither before nor after, without sacrificing security and functionality.” It’s “your faithful colleague by day” and “your teammate by night.” The developer, Mirko Brombin, is also the developer of the Bottles application.

It uses GNOME as the desktop environment – “a stock, clean version with as few changes as possible” – and as far as the gaming aspect is concerned, you don’t need to worry “about setting up your devices.” Vanilla OS uses the latest stable kernel, and includes an integrated driver manager.

You have the ability to choose which package format to use when installing software, be it Snap, Flatpak, or AppImage, and the distro “will take care of the rest.” You can also install packages via apx, the distro’s unique package manager. Per the description on the blog post:

Apx introduces a whole new paradigm in package management. The idea is to use your system only as a box for storing your files, leaving it clean of packages and limiting the risk of breaking due to incompatible, poorly constructed or conflicting packages.

The really neat thing about this is not only can it install Ubuntu-based packages, but it can also install Arch and Fedora packages by passing the appropriate flag!

There’s also their ABRoot technology system, where if making a change to the system fails, it won’t apply said change:

Let’s say you want to install a new package. ABRoot will check which partition is the present root partition (i.e A), then it will mount an overlay on top of it and perform the transaction. If the transaction succeeds, the overlay will be merged with the future root partition (i.e B). On your next boot, the system will automatically switch to the new root partition (B). In case of failure, the overlay will be discarded and the system will boot normally, without any changes to either partition.

Similar to how SteamOS works, core parts of Vanilla OS are immutable, preventing “unwanted changes and corruption from third-party applications or a faulty update.” Components are only updated via “controlled and atomic transactions,” which is in reference to ABRoot. These transactions are not applied if they fail. The $HOME directory, however, is writable.

But the features don’t end there. Vanilla System Operator (VSO) will occasionally check for updates. If the system isn’t under heavy use, and the battery isn’t low, the updates will be downloaded and installed in the background. These updates will then be applied on the next reboot. This was designed “to take away an annoying task from the user, who simply wants to do their own thing.” Finally, Vanilla OS has its own unique installer “to provide a user experience built for you.”

Not too long ago, the Vanilla OS team released their first stable ISO to the public, based on Ubuntu 22.10 with GNOME 43.

The immutability aspect, combined with the fact that I can install packages from three different distributions on one distro, makes this something I’m certainly going to try. I will do so after I write my impressions with Nobara Project.

Source code is available on GitHub. Documentation is available here. DistroTube has a video briefly going over the installation and basic use of the distro if you’d like to check it out.

All images used in this article are credit of the Vanilla OS team.

Nobara Project 37 Adds GameScope HDR Patches, Upgrades GLIBC While Retaining EAC Fixes

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 11:25:40 +0000

Fedora fork Nobara Project kicks off the new year by releasing version 37. Packages have been rebased on top of Fedora 37. Nobara 37 is mostly concerned with package updates:

kernel updated to 6.0.16, all previous patches included, gamescope HDR patches added
glibc updated to 2.36 (still includes all previous fixes)
gamescope updated to latest git
mangohud updated to 0.6.8
goverlay updated to 0.9.1 – this contains a fix for the “interface scaling problem” on HiDPI displays
blender updated to 3.4.1
rocm opencl/HIP packages updated to 5.4.1
steamtinkerlaunch updated to 12.0 and re-added to baseos
vkbasalt updated to 0.3.2.8 – this fixes a regression with multiple effects enabled
supergfxctl updated to 5.0.1 (removes broken/invalid “dedicated” mode)
asusctl updated to 4.5.8
auto-cpufreq updated to 1.9.7 and fixed issue with it not auto-enabling by default after install – auto-cpufreq is an automatic CPU speed and power optimizer for laptops
linux-firmware updated to 2022-12-14
lutris updated to 0.5.11
protonup-qt updated to 2.7.6
llvm updated to 15
mesa updated to 22.3.2
mesa-vulkan-drivers (git) updated to 2022-12-26
wine-staging updated to 8.0-rc2
nvidia drivers updated to 525.78.01 – adds support for the 4070 Ti

Other changes include:

apparmor dnsmasq profile updated to allow waydroid – Waydroid allows Wayland users to run Android
python-rivalcfg (for steelseries accessories) added to baseos
firefox builds moved from appstream to baseos

Interestingly enough some packages aren’t fully up-to-date – for instance, ProtonUp-Qt is not using version 2.7.7, and Lutris is not using version 0.5.12.

Important to note is that even though GLIBC got upgraded to 2.36, it contains the backport that allows certain games with EAC to run, like Divine Knockout (see my GLIBC-EAC post for more info).

Full changelog is available on the official website. I’ve been using Nobara Project personally for the past two or three weeks…and I’ve been impressed so far! Expect an impressions article soon.

Weekly News Recap (HDR on Deck, RTX 4070 Ti, Ray Tracing on AMD)

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 07:06:32 +0000

Steam Deck

Thursday’s Deck client update fixes reboot loop on broken Steam install, controller settings for non-Steam games can now be modified

News

looks like we’re finally starting to see initial support for HDR on desktop and Deck. Red Hat is putting together a hackfest to accelerate the development
NVIDIA launches the rebranded RTX 4070 Ti
“exciting times” for Vulkan video
ray tracing for AMD is getting closer
Fraymakers launches in Steam early access on the 18th
RPCS3 (PS3 emulator) – “every PS3 game at the very least boots and shows image output”
Mesa 23 will get reduced CPU overhead on RADV

Software Updates

Proton Experimental 01.06.2023 adds compatibility to Gungrave G.O.R.E, fixes Alt+Tab issues on GNOME 43 and later
Proton 7.0-6 now available in Proton Next
Wine 8.0-rc3 fixes 28 bugs
NVIDIA driver 525.78.01 adds a few fixes while adding support for the 4070 Ti

Other

I went over my top games of 2022

Cover image credit: Pierre-Loup Griffais

Wine 8.0-RC3 Fixes 28 Bugs, Including Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Overwatch

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 06:38:30 +0000

Wine 8.0-rc3 is now up. A total of 28 bugs were fixed. Gaming-related fixes include:

AirBuccaneers hangs on exit
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night freeze at whitescreen
Can’t aim in Overwatch after alt-tabbing
World of Warcraft Classic: Mouse movement can block keydown events from registering
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth crashes after start
winegstreamer “flush” removal breaks radio in Fallout 3
Max Payne: mouse scroll behaves erratically
Bully: Scholarship Edition hangs on loading screen and doesn’t play intros
Sacred Gold (GOG): missing audio in .wmv videos
Rayman 3: glitched graphics (black textures)
Need for Speed: Payback crashes on launch with OpenGL renderer
Tsui no Stella = Stella of the End: doesn’t launch anymore (GL_INVALID_OPERATION)
20XX: invisible character
Agarest 1 stopped showing Videos after implementing ASF Reader filter

Other fixes – including Adobe Digitial Edition and regedit – can be found in the official patch notes.

Cover image credit: Ubisoft

Proton 7.0-6 Now Available as Proton Next, Fixes Video Playback with Chronos: Before the Ashes, Improves Video Playback with OUTRIDERS and ToGather:Island

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 04:20:58 +0000

The day Proton Experimental got updated, was also the day Proton 7.0-6 graduated from release candidate to Proton Next.

The changes are almost exactly the same as the release candidate. As a reminder, playable titles include:

Bug fixes are as follows:

fix Microsoft Flight Simulator:
- crashing during longer flights
- not displaying live traffic
- not starting after a recent game update
- crashing when starting next to big cities
fix being unable to log in to Xbox Live from Main Menu in As Dusk Falls
fix Septerra Core hanging on redistributables installation
fix Super House of Dead Ninjas, Enemy Mind, and Out There Somewhere frame hitching every few seconds
fix on-screen keyboard popping up every time when starting A Plague Tale: Requiem on the Steam Deck
fix Zeepkist freezing when using controller
fix Overcooked! All You Can Eat being unable to add a second controller-using player
fix Quake III: Arena and Quake III: Team Arena displaying weird texture over the menu
fix the new EA launcher displaying a blank window
fix Marvel Snap not being able connect to online services
fix Sackboy: A Big Adventure failing to start the first time it’s launched
fix Spyro Reignited Trilogy playing intro video in a wrong language
fix Jurassic World Evolution 2 bad performance with recent Proton versions
fix multiple monitor support in Project Cars 2
fix Korean not being rendered correctly in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII launcher
fix multiple languages not rendering correctly in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
fix Lost Lands: Dark Overlord, Lost Lands: Dark Lord, Lost Lands: Redemption, and Haunted Hotel: Silent Waters Collector’s Edition crashing when trying to set a wallpaper

Wine-mono has been updated to 7.4.0, and DXVK-NVAPI to 0.6. The latter update reports the Ada architecture for NVIDIA 4000 series, fixes DLSS from failing on Ada and later cards, prevents startup crashes with Monster Hunter World on Turing and later cards, internal optimzations, and some other features.

The only differences I’m seeing with the Proton Next release is:

fix video playback regression with Chronos: Before the Ashes
improve video playback with OUTRIDERS and ToGather: Island

To use Proton Next, right-click the game you want to use it with -> Properties -> Compatibility. Check off “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool” if it’s not already checked. From the dropdown menu, select “Proton Next”. Steam will automatically download Proton Next if it’s not installed on your system.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Alternatively, if you wish to use it across all of your games, go to Steam -> Settings -> Steam Play. Check off “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” if it’s not already checked, then select “Proton Next” from the dropdown menu. Restart Steam for the changes to take effect.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Gunfire Games/THQ Nordic

Proton Experimental Adds Compatibility to Gungrave G.O.R.E., Fixes Alt+Tab on GNOME 43

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 04:33:40 +0000

Pretty interesting update to Proton Experimental. Today’s update adds compatibility with Gungrave G.O.R.E. Force feedback compatibility has been improved with BeamNG and Forza Horizon 5.

As far as bug fixes go, Alt+Tabbing should no longer present any issues for those of you using GNOME 43 or later. Also, Life is Strange Remastered should no longer crash after chapter 2.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Iggymob Co., Ltd/Prime Matter

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Reboot Loop When Updating Broken Steam Install, Adds Controller Settings for Non-Steam Games

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 03:58:54 +0000

New Deck client is out for Beta and Preview users. This fixes the reboot loop that could occur when failing to update a broken Steam install (could this perhaps fix the “brick” situation that I had described last weekend?). The New Big Picture Mode got some improvements as well – Steam controller dongle pairing is now possible, and controllers can be turned off when exiting BPM.

As far as Steam Input, the ThrustMaster eSwap PRO Xbox controller has been added, and the long delay when connecting Razer keyboards should no longer be present. Non-Steam games should now have controller settings in the app properties.

Some other fixes have made it in as well. Full patch notes are as follows:

General

Fixed reboot loop when failing to update a broken Steam install
Changed selected launch option reminder to show three times per user instead of continuing to show every time the user returns to the game details.
Fixed issues w/ digital navigation getting stuck on text boxes when using a physical keyboard

New Big Picture Mode

Fixed issue viewing the hardware survey web page after submitting results
Added option to turn off controllers when exiting BPM
Implemented Steam Controller dongle pairing
Added controller setting dropdown for controller idle turn off timeout
Prevented launch option reminder from appearing on top of other UI while a game is launching
UI Digital Navigation Key Repeats are faster

Steam Input

Added support for the ThrustMaster eSwap PRO Controller Xbox
Fixed long delay at startup when Razer keyboards are connected
Show controller settings in app properties game for non-Steam games
Fixed crash with games that use “Windows Gaming Input”
Gyro Calibration Rework: Calibration Calculates an anti-drift value as normal, but also records Gyro and Accelerometer noise while stationary, so that Auto Calibration (toggle) is more discerning

Linux

Fix instances of Steam freezing or crashing in desktop mode.
Fix closing non-steam shortcuts via the overlay when two or more are running.

Patch notes can also be read on Steam.

My Top Games of 2022

Fri, 06 Jan 2023 13:40:32 +0000

Here are my top games that were released in 2022. Please note:

These picks aren’t sorted in any particular order.
Obviously, my opinion on these is subjective. Your favorites will likely differ from mine.
Some games may have previously been released on other platforms/stores prior to 2022, but migrated to Steam in said year, so those games are included here.

The Entropy Centre

Great game to play if you’re a fan of the Portal series. Instead of using portals, however, the main protagonist uses a talking gun named ASTRA to help reverse time. Reversing time can move cubes back to their original position and help Aria get one step closer to her goal – that of saving the earth from total destruction.

Sonic Frontiers

Heh, this one should be kind of obvious with the amount of coverage I’ve posted regarding this game. I’m glad to finally see a more mature take on the series, an open-world, and to see a game that Sega didn’t screw up for once.

By the way, if you’re looking to add mods to the game, I have guides for desktop and Steam Deck.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

The game was technically first released on the Epic Games Store in 2021, but re-released to Steam in September 2022, so I’m counting it here. It’s one of those games where, despite its cute outer charm, lies combat that is Souls-like in difficulty. Amazing animation quality. Beautiful soundtrack. Need I say more?

Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune

An early access Metroidvania that’s showing some seriously good potential. Three different characters to choose from, each with their own unique fighting style. Characters have special moves and they can cast magic. Almost makes it feel like it’s a fighting game, with challenging boss fights in the mix.

You might want to stay away if you’re not into anime, however (I’m not into anime myself but it’s still a good game regardless).

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

Though some have argued that this is a “cheaply made” remake, in all honestly that’s okay with me. This game didn’t really need to get expanded upon like Final Fantasy VII did. The game was already great back when it was on the PSP 15 years ago, and it was made even better with skippable cutscenes, better graphics, and better battle mechanics, while retaining most of the original…core.

Only caveat that I don’t like is most of the original voice actors were replaced with new ones. There is, however, a mod that restores the original voice actors.

TUNIC

Behind the adorable fox is a game that’s going to seriously challenge your every wit to survive. If you’re a fan of the Zelda series, particularly the top-down/isometric games, you’ll probably like this too, as long as you’re okay with the Souls-like difficulty and having to rely on the in-game guide to help get yourself around.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Perhaps this is a bit of a controversial opinion, but it’s nice to actually have a game that isn’t violent. Sackboy fits the bill quite nicely. It’s basically the Super Mario Galaxy fix for PC. A game where you can unwind and do some 3D platforming. The music is pretty decent too.

MultiVersus

Basically your Smash Bros. equivalent with Warner Bros. characters. Although, of course, some of the mechanics are a little different.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

Another one of those games that was previously released in 2021 on Battle.NET, but migrated over to Steam in October of 2022. Kind of similar to Sackboy in its playstyle.

Gotham Knights

Not much to say about this one…it’s open-world and it’s fun. Batman has died and his comrades are making sure Gotham City stays under control. I guess it plays similarly to Mad Max, but I never played that game.

Ex-Zodiac

If you were craving a Star Fox fix, you don’t need to look any further. Turn the max FPS to 15 FPS and you get even more nostalgia. You might as well throw in a CRT monitor and a SNES-style controller to boot. Bonus: it’s native to Linux.

What were your favorite games released in 2022? Let me know!

I'm Taking a Break (Plus Future Plans for LGC)

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 15:35:17 +0000

10 months in since LGC has been around, and I’m kind of exhausted. I was hoping I could wait until the one-year anniversary in March, but I don’t think I’d be able to make it.

Rarely has a day gone by without me writing at least one post, including holidays and weekends. Sometimes I’ve had to sacrifice time eating, sleeping, or taking a shower just to make sure I have news delivered in a timely manner. It seriously, seriously boggles my mind how people like Liam from GOL and Michael from Phoronix are able to write at their frequency, let alone have the time for it. And they have families to take care of too! I’m just my own man without a wife or kids and only work part-time.

I need some time to de-compress. Actually sit down and drink my coffee properly, without gulping it down (at this point coffee has kind of become like alcohol to me; hopefully I can slow down there). Stare at some waifu art for a few hours while listening to winter ambience. Burn through my backlog of Steam games, which I’ve barely had time for. Buy some new ones and play through those while the Winter Sale is still around. Have some time to lift weights. Actually have the time to cook chicken on the grill without having to resort to gas station food as a quick pick-me-up. Get some house cleaning done.

Don’t get me wrong – I love to write, and I love having a small group of followers who enjoy what I write. However, at times covering reports feels more like a job than it is a hobby. A hobby, which, mind you, I’m not getting paid for, but I’ve explained why I’m not taking money.

As time has gone by though, I have entertained the idea of setting up a Patreon/Liberapay, due to the frequency with which I write. I’m a little hesitant about it though because:

Just about every content creator has some sort of Patreon, and to me, it’s honestly kind of annoying when they try to advertise it, and the last thing I want to do is reciprocate the behavior.
Not that I’m trying to be cynical, but I have a feeling no one would support me. I say this because I’ve seen other content creators produce some seriously good stuff, yet on their Patreon they get one or two supporters max. Which is a little sad, considering all the hard work that they put forth, only to be stomped on by the more popular media outlets.

I don’t know – I might set up a poll on Mastodon, or you can let me know in the comments whether I should monetize my work.

Image credit: Assignment Expert

As to how long the break will be, I’m not sure. It could be anywhere from a few days, to a week, to two weeks. Hopefully it won’t be any longer than that. On the other hand, knowing myself I will likely get bored after a few days and resume before you know it.

That being said, once I’ve been refreshed there’s tons of content that you can look forward to over the coming months, including but not limited to:

game reviews (Fraymakers, Crisis Core remake, Sonority, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Ex-Zodiac, Gotham Knights, Grounded, and maybe some others)
interviews – I’m thinking GloriousEggroll and Luke Short
JSAUX ModCase for Steam Deck review
getting Slippi set up on Steam Deck – video guide. And I might have found a way to overclock the GC adapter on Deck
what it’s been like switching from NVIDIA to AMD (GTX 1660 to the 6700 XT)
Nobara Project (Fedora spinoff) impressions
Vanilla OS impressions
an article dedicated to my favorite group of developers…but I’m not going to reveal what it is just yet wink
my top games of 2022 – and who knows, I might have some guests involved with that article as well
plenty of other stuff that I’m probably forgetting to mention

I’m also trying to keep up with the times – as in, I realize more and more people are consuming media by video form these days. So I’m trying to get more active with my YouTube channel and posting some guides there, as well as other material.

Unless there’s an urgent news report to cover, from now on I will likely not be posting articles on weekends anymore, albeit for the weekly news recap. Traffic is generally slower on the weekends anyway. I’ll probably take the holidays off as well.

TL;DR

won’t be writing anything from a few days to a few weeks
let me know whether I should set up a Patreon/Liberapay
lots of stuff to look forward to when I get back
trying to produce more video content
probably won’t be posting on weekends or holidays anymore, except for the weekly news recap

To all who have been following me, I thank you for your support. I recently reached over 1,000 followers on Mastodon. I also appreciate the feedback I get on any article that I post, whether it be positive or negative. I’m also noticing that people are noticing the site, meaning they’re more likely to send me a review sample of whatever they’ve got (the GameCube controller probably being the most outstanding example). Here’s to some more great content in 2023!

Fraymakers Launches January 18th

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 14:36:19 +0000

Fraymakers is a game that I’ve been following closely. It’s basically a pixel-art platform fighter with mechanics that are akin to the Smash Brothers series. The team behind it is McLeodGaming, who also made Super Smash Flash and Super Smash Flash 2.

This was originally slated to be released in Early Access on Steam back in August. It’s been pushed back and now we’ve finally got a release date: January 18th. It will include:

four characters
20 assists
five stages
rollback netcode!
FrayTools – I’m guessing this is for modding purposes

Later on there will be five more characters, one DLC character, 30 assists, nine stages, and more. And it looks like according to their Kickstarter there will be a native Linux release in addition to the Mac OS and Windows versions.

I’m certainly looking forward to getting my hands on this game!

Cover image credit: Team Fray/McLeodGaming

Weekly News Recap (Bricked Steam Deck Tips, Steam Replay, Best Steam Games of 2022)

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 19:13:57 +0000

Steam Deck

planning on going somewhere without Internet? Here’s a few tips so you can avoid unexpected updates
be careful where you buy your MicroSD card; it might be a fake
I have an updated guide for modding Sonic Frontiers
SteamOS 3.4.5 (preview) fixes update loop when doing factory reset and fixes focus issue with Forza Horizon 5
the Deck doesn’t need exclusives
beware of scam Deck and Steam account stores

Software Updates

Cemu 2.0-23 improves motion support, makes Wayland optional
ChimeraOS 38 improves Intel GPU and NTFS support

Other

GLIBC-EAC can help get your EAC games to work on Arch desktop and on Deck
you can use Steam Play None to force native Linux clients (if for some reason Steam Linux runtime doesn’t work)
Steam Replay gives you a glance of your most-played games in 2022
Valve has put up a list of the best games of 2022

Your Steam Deck Could Be a Walking Brick Without Internet

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:17:29 +0000

So there I was, away from home, sitting in a parking lot in my car. One of the few times I actually take my Steam Deck out, I awaken it from sleep while it was in Desktop Mode. I switch to Game Mode. Then I get the fatal error as shown in the cover photo.

The device kept rebooting. It wouldn’t go away until I had Internet. But I wasn’t home, and I had no way of connecting to any Wi-Fi network. Fortunately I had my Deck bag with me, and inside of it I had a USB-C to USB-C cable (that I use for the power bank). I configured my phone to use USB tethering, and connected it to the Deck. The update went through and I was able to use the Deck at that point. Meantime my phone bill got spiked since it used half a gig of data, just to download a few updates.

So, if this has happened to you before, you’re certainly not the only one.

I have to hand it to Valve for how frequently they push out updates to the Deck client and SteamOS. Sometimes it’s hard just keep up with all the updates and reporting on them here on the site. Buuuttt (yes, of course there’s always the “but”) there’s this one thing that I hope the company addresses soon, and that’s this “brick” situation that I had just described. If all of a sudden you turn your Deck on without being connected to Internet, or if you awaken it from sleep while in Desktop Mode and switch to Game Mode, you will essentially have this bricked device if there is an update available.

And since this is a gaming-on-the-go device, it’s pretty critical that this gets addressed. You could be on the train, on the bus, be at a friend’s house. You could be camping out in the woods somewhere. You could be having a trip at the Bahamas. Turn the Deck on and not be able to use it. Hopefully your phone has some cell coverage and you’ve got a cable lying around for tethering. And hopefully you’ll be alright with half a gig of your data being eaten up (basically an extra $5 tacked onto my phone bill just to download the update). Otherwise you won’t be able to use it until you go back to the place where you last connected to the Internet.

I’m fairly certain this will reach Valve’s attention soon and they’ll do something about it. In the meantime, here are a few suggestions so that you won’t come across this issue:

before you leave your home, keep your Deck in Game Mode and make sure all updates have been downloaded. After this you may also want to enable Offline Mode in Steam -> Settings -> Internet
if you’re on the Beta or Preview branches, you may want to stick with Stable to reduce your chances of getting an update out of nowhere
have your phone and a USB tethering cable with you
have a copy of the SteamOS recovery image flashed on a spare MicroSD card and keep it with you wherever you go. Boot from it and select the “Reinstall SteamOS” option to re-install the OS while keeping your games. And pray that you won’t need to connect to the Internet for another update after that

This, of course, is in addition to other problems, like audio crackling issues and…one other one that I thought of that’s on the tip of my tongue but can’t quite seem to remember what it was. These will get fixed in due time, I’m sure.

GLIBC-EAC -- Get Your EAC-Enabled Games to Run on Arch/Steam Deck Again

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 16:13:33 +0000

So, those GLIBC developers…they have a tendancy of breaking things related to anti-cheat (particularly EAC). So much so that even Valve’s own Pierre-Loup Griffais had complained about it, mentioning that this “contributes to damaging the idea of desktop Linux as a viable target for third-party developers.”

If you’re on Arch Linux on desktop, or you’re using the Steam Deck, you might not be able to get certain games with EAC to run anymore, because both platforms updated to the latest version of GLIBC. For instance, you might not be able to run Divine Knockout (DKO) or Rogue Company. Other games like Brawlhalla or MultiVersus will still work though, since they use a different version of EAC.

Unfortunately the GLIBC upgrade – particularly version 2.36 – has created more problems than it has solved. To find out what version of GLIBC you’re using, open a terminal and run ldd --version.

You can see here on Fedora, I’m running version 2.35. Which means I don’t have to worry about EAC games not running (queue the infamous clip of GloriousEggroll eating popcorn while watching Arch users suffer). If you run this command on Arch, however, or on the Steam Deck, you are likely running version 2.36, which has been causing the issues.

But fret not – glibc-eac has come to the rescue. This is the “Arch glibc with the commit breaking eos-eac reverted. By running this script, you should be able to get games like DKO and Rogue Company to work on Arch and the Steam Deck again.

If You’re on Arch Desktop

Simply clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/Frogging-Family/glibc-eac.git
cd glibc-eac

Then run the glibc_eac.sh script:

./glibc_eac.sh

This will build and install GLIBC with the breaking EOS-EAC commit reverted. Get yourself comfortable, because this is going to take a while (on Deck it took close to an hour). When all is said and done, reboot the computer and you should be good to go.

If You’re on Steam Deck

Unfortunately with Valve being Valve, they decided to make installing pacman packages a whole lot more complicated than it should be. And while I would offer instructions here on how to fix EAC on Deck, I’m still in the process of trying to figure that out myself. It’s proving to be a real pain in the arse. Basically I’ve made an Arch Linux container with Distrobox, and while I was able to install glibc-eac within it, DKO still isn’t running. It’s complaining about something related to DX11 not being present on the system, even though other games are running within the container (Mesa drivers are up-to-date if you were wondering).

Still, it’s progress. Better than the error that you typically get in the cover photo.

If I ever do come across a solution, I will be sure to document the process.

SteamOS 3.4.5 Preview Fixes Update Loop When Doing a Factory Reset, Fixes Focus Issue with Forza Horizon 5

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 03:59:58 +0000

Small but important update out for both stable and preview branches on the Deck. SteamOS 3.4.4 (stable) fixes an update loop that could occur when doing a factory reset. 3.4.5 (preview) – in addition to adding the update loop fix – also fixes a focus issue with Forza Horizon 5.

Force Native Linux Clients with Steam Play None

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 16:54:05 +0000

Though this is rare, there might be a game or two in your Steam library which – even though it may have a native Linux version – will force the use of Proton when you run it. For instance, when running CrossCode, your Steam Deck (or Linux desktop) will prefer Proton over the native version, because Steam apparently thinks Proton is better.

Maybe you don’t want to use Proton and play the game as is, natively. While you can technically use the Steam Linux Runtime to use the native client (if it’s available), there may be issues with using that. So we’ve got another tool at our disposal: Steam Play None. This ensures you’re playing the native Linux version as is.

Getting it is simple. Just make sure you’re running ProtonUp-Qt 2.7.7 or later, run the application, and check off “Enable advanced mode” from the About menu. From there click “Add version” from the main menu, and select “Steam-Play-None” as the compatibility tool from the dropdown menu. Click “Install” and let the application do its thing.

Alternatively you can install it the old-fashioned way by downloading the tarball and extracting it to the compatibilitytools.d/ directory:

wget https://github.com/Scrumplex/Steam-Play-None/archive/refs/heads/main.tar.gz
tar -xzf main.tar.gz -C ~/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d/

Restart the Steam client if it’s already open. Right-click the game you want to force the native client with, go to “Properties…”, go to the “Compatibility” tab, check off the box to force a specific tool, and select “Steam-Play-None” from the dropdown menu.

That’s literally all you have to do. Now you can enjoy your game natively (provided that there is a Linux client available, obviously).

Note that most of the games I’ve tested, including Them’s Fightin’ Herds and Ex-Zodiac, are already using the Linux client as is. So it’s very unlikely that you will have a game that forces Proton. Additionally – not that I’m favoring Proton over native – but Unity Linux exports suck, hard. Depending on the version of the engine used, Linux versions of games made with Unity aren’t going to run anywhere near as fast as using Proton. Flashout 3 is an example where the Proton version runs about 1.5x faster.

Before anyone points out to me, “Well, there’s actually this Unity game that runs the same as Proton or even better…” I acknowledge that may be the case. Unity might have gotten better over the years with their Linux export plugins, which is why I mentioned it depends on the version of the engine the developer used when they exported the game.

At any rate, you now have an option of using native over Proton.

Corrupt MicroSD Card? Your Steam Deck (Or Amazon) May Be to Blame

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:02:30 +0000

You might have bought a MicroSD card for your Deck. Over time, however, you might notice the speeds start to slow down. In fact, they might slow down so much that they are practically useless. I’m not talking about opening up your Deck with the card still inside (cough Liam from GOL cough). Bad MicroSD cards are usually caused by one of two things:

If you bought the card on Amazon, it might be a fake
If you formatted the card on the Deck earlier this year (before the end of May), the Deck did a full format as opposed to a quick format, causing your card to be overwritten too much

As reported on the Reddit thread, the OP bought a SanDisk 200GB Ultra MicroSDXC UHS-I on Amazon. Turns out it was actually only 32 GB. Here’s what they had to say:

Due to sheer laziness on Amazon’s part, the counterfeit cards get mixed right in with the real ones. The negative side of this is that you are getting at most 1/6 of what you paid for, the card will likely be slower than typical, your game data will 100% be corrupted if you use these cards due to their overwriting nature, and it takes three hours or so to test these large cards.

Keep in mind that thread was posted three years ago. But there’s still a risk of buying a fake card from Amazon – as indicated by a more recent report – even if it’s from a legit retailer like SanDisk, Lexar, Samsung, etc. Your best bet would be to test the card once you get it to confirm if it’s the actual size and speed as advertised, and if it’s not, simply return it.

But let’s say your card is legit. There is still a limit in regards to how often the MicroSD card can be written into. And once the card has reached that limit, it will slow down; eventually to the point where it will become unusable. So if you plugged it into your Steam Deck and formatted it in Game Mode, there’s a chance that the Deck did a full format as opposed to a quick format. Full formats write much more data to the card as opposed to quick format – the card will therefore reach this “unwritable” state more quickly.

Valve changed the formatting behavior of the MicroSD card from full to quick with the SteamOS 3.2 update that shipped in late May. According to the interview from The Verge, this simple change fixed a lot of cards from reaching end-of-life. But if you formatted your card prior to this update, this may explain why your card is behaving erratically.

So here’s some tips:

you may want to buy a MicroSD card from somewhere other than Amazon to avoid getting a counterfeit card. I also have a guide for getting the right type of card
test the speed and size of the card with something like KDiskMark to make sure you got what you paid for. Send the card back otherwise
the Deck should use a quick format in Game Mode nowadays, but if you’re feeling paranoid about using it you may want to format the card in Desktop Mode with KDE Partition Manager instead (you may want to opt for btrfs as the file system for it as well, to preserve disk space)
it’s safer to shut the Deck down prior to changing the MicroSD card as opposed to when it’s on; the Deck may be in the middle of writing to the card if you’re running games on it or downloading game updates (cards are hot-swappable, but better safe than sorry)

If you have a bad card, whether it be fake or it got corrupted somehow, don’t lose hope. You can actually send your card to Valve and see what they can do about it. In regards to how that works, I’m not sure; I’d imagine it’s similar to how the Deck RMA process works. I have a friend who may actually do that; I will document the process if he does.

All images are credit of Ruineka.

Cemu 2.0-23 Improves Motion Support on Supported Controllers, Wayland is Now Optional

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 18:44:16 +0000

Small update for Cemu – the Nintendo Wii U emulator that went open-source a few months ago – is now out. Changes include:

CMake find module for Wayland added to Linux version, Wayland is now optional
optimized timer code for MacOS
fix “c” showing up in account list for saves
better motion support for supported controllers with the AppImage

See the commit history since December 13th to see more info.

ChimeraOS 38 Improves Intel GPU Support, NTFS Support for External Drives

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 13:02:54 -0500

Couch-oriented gaming distro ChimeraOS gets an update for the month of December, just before the new year. Highlights include:

improved Intel GPU driver support for the Deck UI – useful on handhelds that use Intel-based processors
screen orientation and resolution fixes for AOKZOE A1 and OneXPlayer Mini Pro
improved support for external NTFS drives
bug fixes for AppImages and SD card auto-mounting on boot
controller support for GPD Win Max 2, OXP Mini Pro, Anbernic Win600, AOKZOE A1
“Format SD Card” button in Deck UI should now work

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Valve Introduces Steam Replay

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 13:35:59 -0500

It’s not really news at this point (that’s what happens when I’m a day late), but Steam now has a Replay feature. This gives you an overview of what your top games were for that year, top genres, the platforms you played on percentage-wise, etc. Let’s go over what I played this year.

I played 75 games, 42 of which were new. Top games, ordered from most-played to least, include:

Borderlands 3
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Sonic Frontiers
Splitgate
Horizon Zero Dawn

I unlocked 308 achievements. Nearly half of the games I played were released this year.

Seems like I’m mostly into racing titles and Metroidvanias. Makes sense; Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is a great game. I also played Itorah earlier this year. Although I’m kind of surprised that “Fighting” isn’t in the web. I assume “Chess” is in here because of the SokoChess game I played a while back.

The top three months where I played games the most were February, September, and November, with November being number one at 17%. Again, makes sense considering all the guides I’ve written for Sonic Frontiers, and the game coming out that month.

78% of the time, I played games on Linux desktop. Only 22% of the remaining time was on Deck. 69 games were played on desktop; 47 on Deck. I’m happy to report I haven’t touched a game at all this year on either Windows or Mac OS. People have said time and again that the Deck is the greatest thing on earth, and if you had read my controversial review of the device, you would know that I disagree. I expect to get a lot of flak for having an opinion that’s contrary to everyone else’s, but on desktop I can enjoy higher framerates, easier modding, easier customization, higher resolutions, and a whole lot more. Bite me.

But continuing on with the discussion of the Deck, top games, ordered from most-played to least, are as follows:

Sonic Frontiers
Horizon Zero Dawn
Portal
MultiVersus
XEL

57% of the time I played with a gamepad. Actually kind of surprised it’s not more than that; I rarely play a game with keyboard and mouse.

Longest daily gaming streak was from May 26th to June 8th – a 13-day streak.

You can see the rest of my stats here.

What are your stats? I’m curious what you’ve been playing in 2022.

Sonic Frontiers - Updated Steam Deck Modding Guide

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 12:55:34 -0500

UPDATE (12/29/2022): this guide has been updated to make sure HMM runs! I also have a video.

I guess many of the people who have tried adding mods to Sonic Frontiers on Deck have had trouble. And up until this point I’ve had no idea how to help troubleshoot the various issues they’ve encountered. Fortunately SolarNyan came to the rescue with an updated guide. I’ll explain their steps here with pictures and videos.

If you’re on Linux desktop, you should still be able to make use of my older guide.

All-in-all you’re going to need at least an hour to get all of this set up; many of the installs will take a while.

Disclaimer: there’s still a chance you won’t be able to get mods to work for X, Y, or Z reason. If you follow these steps and still have issues, I will NOT be able to help you any further; please file them here. But hopefully this should be the last guide you’ll ever need.

I recommend connecting a keyboard and mouse, as some of these steps will require your hands to get dirty with the terminal. Also, make sure you’re on SteamOS 3.4 or later. And quick tip: pressing TAB while in the terminal will autocomplete your commands and file paths. Saves you some time!

1. Configure Your Deck’s Power Settings

Go to Desktop Mode on your Deck. We’ll need to make sure the Deck doesn’t go to sleep at all during this process; the last thing we want to happen is for the sleeping mode to trigger while we’re in the middle of installing dotnet48.

Launch “System Settings” from the taskbar. Scroll down to “Power Management” under the Hardware section. From the “Energy Saving” section, uncheck “Suspend session” on both the “AC Power” and “Battery” tabs. Click “Apply” when done.

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You may also want to disable screen locking. Click the left arrow on the top-left of the window to go back to the main menu for System Settings. Scroll up to the “Workspace” section and click “Workspace Behavior”. Click “Screen Locking”. Uncheck “Lock screen automatically” and click “Apply” when finished.

2. Use Proton 5 to Generate Proton Prefix

Obviously, make sure Sonic Frontiers is installed. Open Steam while in Desktop Mode, right-click the game -> Properties… In the new window that opens, go to the Compatibility tab. Check off “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool”. In the dropdown menu that will appear, click it and select Proton 5.0-x (“x” should be 10). Steam will download this version of Proton (or it may download when you click “PLAY”). Close the window, then launch the game. This will generate the Proton prefix needed for Hedge Mod Manager to run, which would include dotnet40 and dotnet48.

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Give it a few minutes. The game won’t launch (Steam will try quite a while but nothing will happen), but the prefix should be generated. Close the game through Steam.

3. Install Protontricks and DotNet40/48

Install Protontricks via the Discover app. Alternatively you can bring up a terminal window with CTRL + ALT + T and install with:

flatpak install flathub com.github.Matoking.protontricks

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Add an alias to Protontricks via the terminal (this will allow you to run Protontricks with just protontricks, rather than flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks):

echo "alias protontricks='flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks'" >> ~/.bashrc

Close the terminal, then open it up again for the change to take effect.

Now we’ll run Protontricks with Sonic Frontiers:

protontricks --no-background-wineserver 1237320 --force dotnet48

“1237320” in this case is the game ID for Sonic Frontiers. “–force dotnet48” will install said tool, which is what we need for Hedge Mod Manager to run. Also, you’ll be installing dotnet40.

Give it some time. By “some time” I mean upwards of thirty minutes. Make yourself a cup of coffee. After that, the installers for dotnet40 and dotnet48 should appear. Let them install. Again, be patient, it’ll take a while.

If for some reason dotnet was installed previously, just select “Repair” and proceed with the install.

After installing dotnet40, you’ll be installing dotnet48. You may run into an installer error. Just click “Continue” to proceed with the installation. Click “Finish” when…it’s finished. If you get asked to reboot, you shouldn’t need to.

There may be a chance that after all this work the next steps won’t. Hopefully that won’t happen, but if it does, you’ll have to go back to steps 2 and 3. If the installs went well you should be able to close the terminal without issue.

4. Backup the Proton Prefix

It’s important to have backups, in the event anything goes wrong. Let’s back up the Proton prefix for Sonic Frontiers. This folder would be located in ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/ and will be labeled “1237320” (the tilde “~” is short for /home/deck/). Back this up to wherever you want. Somewhere where you’ll have convenient access to it in the event that you do need it.

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An easy way of backing this up to your desktop would be:

cp -r ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237320/ ~/Desktop/

5. Get SteamTinkerLaunch (STL) with ProtonUp-Qt

STL will allow us to run Hedge Mod Manager. And to install STL, we can use ProtonUp-Qt. Get it from the Discovery app, or install with:

flatpak install flathub net.davidotek.pupgui2

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After that’s installed, you should be able to launch it from the Start Menu. Go to the “Utilities” section and look for “ProtonUp-Qt”.

When the window opens, click “Add version”. Under the “Compatibility tool” dropdown menu, select “SteamTinkerLaunch”. Make sure the version is 12 or later (at the time of writing this, v12 just released over the weekend). Close ProtonUp-Qt.

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If Steam is open, exit and then re-open the client for the changes to take effect.

6. Make Hedge Mod Manager (HMM) use Proton 5.0-10b

In Steam, right-click Sonic Frontiers, and force the game to use STL from the dropdown menu on the Compatibility tab. Launch the game. Quickly click “Main Menu” once the STL dialog box opens before it launches the game. Click “Global”. Under the HMM section, force HMM to use Proton 5.0-10b from the dropdown menu (this option should be listed since we previously forced the game to use said version of Proton). Click “Save”, then close the STL window.

7. Run HMM

Note that currently we can’t run HMM through STL directly. So we have to launch it via the command line.

In a terminal, navigate to /home/deck/stl/prefix/, where our STL executable file is located:

cd ~/stl/prefix/

As of version 7.9, HMM supports Sonic Frontiers. So we don’t need to run the latest nightly release anymore. Run the latest stable release of HMM with:

./steamtinkerlaunch hmm start

This will take a while on first run. If you get an error about rundll32.exe, just click “No” to continue.

Nothing will happen. This is normal. Now we need to force HMM to use a newer version of Proton.

8. Use a Newer Version of Proton for HMM

Repeat the process from step 6, but this time, force HMM to use a newer version of Proton, such as Proton Experimental or GE-Proton.

9. Run HMM Again

Repeat the process from step 7. Hopefully HMM should now open.

You shouldn’t need to modify any of the settings under the “Settings” tab – although you may need to use the Light theme in order to properly see the codes from the “Codes” tab. Under said tab, select whatever codes you want by checking them off. New codes are added daily, so if you get an update prompt, go ahead and do so.

Codes I’d recommend enabling:

fix resolution resetting on launch
disable challenge marker scanner
disable Guardian interactions
disable power boost cutscene
disable umbrella camera lock-on
disable framerate limiter in cutscenes (renders cutscenes at 60 FPS rather than 30)
disable in-game letterboxing
disable fixed camera notifications
hide skip button in cutscenes

Under the “Mods” tab, there shouldn’t be anything there. Download mods from GameBanana. Extract these mods to the “Mods” folder inside your game’s installation directory. To get access to this folder, right-click the game in Steam -> Manage -> Browse local files.

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1-Click install technically works if you open up a terminal and run xdg-open <1-click-mod-url> but it’s more hassle than it’s worth, so I’d recommend downloading mods manually.

After you’ve extracted the mods to the appropriate location, click “Refresh List” in HMM under the “Mods” tab. These should now be showing up. To enable them, simply tick the checkbox next to the mod name. Some mods may have the settings cog icon not greyed out; you can click this to further configure the mod.

10. Save Settings and Run

After checking off the mods and codes that you want, click “Save”. Don’t click “Save and Play”; we need to configure a different Proton version for use with Sonic Frontiers.

Go back to your Steam library, right-click the game -> Properties… Go to the Compatibility tab, and force a newer version of Proton, such as Proton Experimental or GE-Proton (you can obtain GE-Proton with ProtonUp-Qt).

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Launch the game and see if your mods/codes worked… (praying no one has any issues)

That should be it. Again, I have a gut feeling someone is going to run into an error along the way, and if that happens, I really, really don’t know what to tell you. This is admittedly a janky way of getting mods to work, and there’s so many different variables at play that I wouldn’t even know how to get started helping someone with the troubleshooting process. Submit your bugs here if you run into any issues.

Should you want to run HMM again, it should be available under “Games” from the Start menu. If for some reason it won’t run, run ./steamtinkerlaunch hmm start inside of ~/stl/prefix/.

Weekly News Recap (Ubuntu Dev Interview, 7,000 Verified/Playable Deck Titles, Manjaro's Mask)

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 13:39:46 -0500

Steam Deck

SteamOS 3.4 shipped to stable
Tuesday’s beta Deck client update adds search tab to controller profile configuration, adds a few additional fixes
JSAUX announces the ModCase – versatile utility for adding and removing accessories to your Deck. They’re also selling a transparent back plate
we’ve hit 7k verified/playable titles
seems like everyone and their brother sees the Deck as their hardware of the year. I guess you could also say the Deck has finally put the “Year of the Linux Desktop” joke to an end

News

Steam Winter sale is live from now until January 5th
NVIDIA to shut down GameStream in February
Epic Games to pay $520 million for “privacy violations and unwanted charges”
Intel to work on a new Xe graphics driver
AMD to improve “the Linux experience” when running new GPUs without proper driver support
SerpentOS releases its first public ISO

Guides

you can play Sonic Adventure 2 in HD

Interviews

did an interview with an Ubuntu kernel developer. Highly recommend giving it a read if you haven’t already; it’s very candid and open

Hardware

I did a review on a GameCube controller that uses an open-source PCB
PhobGCC 2.0.2 makes FW updating easier and adds a more reliable connection to C-stick
Portal with RTX can supposedly run on AMD-based systems

Software Updates

SteamTinkerLaunch v12 is massive, gets tons of Steam Deck improvements and initial support for Hedge Mod Manager
ProtonUp-Qt 2.7.7 adds two new compatibility tools, and you can check ProtonDB rankings for your games
Proton Experimental 12.21.2022 allows the next-gen upgrade for The Witcher 3 to run, improved steering wheel support
Proton 7.0-6rc adds compatibility to eight new titles, fixes 20 bugs
GE-Proton 7-43 fixes audio issues with Immortals: Fenyx Rising, enables hairworks on The Witcher 3 (although from what I’ve been told hairworks still apparently works without this)
Wine 8.0-rc2 fixes 50 bugs, many of which pertain to specific games
NVIDIA beta Vulkan driver adds support for the 4k series cards
Mesa 23 enables Vulkan mesh shaders for AMD’s 6k series
Manjaro 22 gets kernel 6.1 support

Cover image credit: Ikey Doherty (no, he’s not related to me; the spelling of the last name is different)

Massive SteamTinkerLaunch v12 'Still Alive' Update Adds Steam Deck Improvements, Initial Support for Hedge Mod Manager

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 12:13:09 -0500

It’s been well worth the three-month wait for today’s SteamTinkerLaunch update. We’ve got so many new features, improvements, and bug fixes with the “Still Alive” update that is v12.0. Those of you who use this Swiss army knife utility on Steam Deck, and those of you who use mods with Sonic Frontiers, should be particularly excited about this update, as there’s some goodies tossed in your way.

To start, frostworx, the original author of STL, has stepped down as maintainer. Fortunately, sonic2kk has picked up the torture stake and is continuing the work where frostworx left off. And boy, let me tell you, they’ve been busy. This is probably the largest changelog I’ve ever seen.

Here’s a few highlights from the many new features with this release:

Steam Deck

GameScope, GameMode, and MangoApp options have all been enabled in Desktop Mode
tray icon and notifier in Desktop Mode have also been enabled
SteamOS 3.4 support
better visual feedback while installing with notifiers, echo statements, and more logging
offline installation improvements, such as adding a warning before installing and overwriting older install files if the local files are newer
quality-of-life improvements; improved language file loading process, and a Quiet mode to disable notifications during install

“various user interface elements” have been added in bold
“prettier” game name in main menu, quotes removed from some text elements
last played time displayed in hours, minutes, and seconds; only show this if the game was played with STL before
scrollbar “slightly thinner” on Deck, Deck compatibility rating added to main menu and wait requester
program version added to wait requester
“Open Issue” option added to tray icon menu – this will open up the Issue tracker on the STL GitHub, where you can add a support ticket

CLI

steamtinkerlaunch steamdeckcompat <appid> gets a game’s Deck compatibility rating
openissue, -v (or --version), and -h functions added (-h shows help screen, -v shows STL version)
“prettier” output for various commands

One-Time Run

buttons have been added for Winecfg and Winetricks for a one-time run
the custom executable directory can be set as the working directory; the custom working directory can also be used to run an executable

ReShade

per-game ReShade override versions, and the global version of ReShade can automatically be bumped

ModOrganizer2

“major overhaul” of MO2 implementation
Valheim added to games list
“prettier” output of mo2 list-installed and mo2 list-supported

Vortex Mod Manager

quite a number of titles – from Dragon Quest XI S, to Horizon Zero Dawn, to Elden Ring, among many others – have been added “in an attempt to improve autodetection when selecting these games for managing”
“prettier” (yes, I know I’m using that word a lot) output for various commands

Hedge Mod Manager

initial support – HMM is an open-source mod manager for games that use the Hedgehog Engine, such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Frontiers
automatically installs all the Winetricks tools needed for HMM to run – this would include dotnet48, d3dx9, vcrun2019, and d3dcompiler_47
both the latest stable and nightly releases are supported
automatic link handling for GameBanana’s 1-Click mod install button should work, but that may not be the case if you’re on Deck – instructions are provided in the patch notes
.desktop file is created so you can quickly launch HMM on desktop
“various command-line options” have been added

Fixes

“various Steam Deck fixes”; don’t update STL on Steam run, less notifier spam, some UI elements should no longer be hidden by the scrollbar, Yad path fixed
fix missing headers when a game is run offline
better Proton Experimental mismatch handling
path fixes for local installs on Linux desktop
half-a-dozen fixes for Vortex Mod Manager
and plenty of other fixes

Other

STL can be kept open once a game is closed
general Wiki improvements
updated translations
CheatEngine and GameConquerer support have been removed, since apparently the use of these can result in player bans
better installation of STL via ProtonUp-Qt – Flatpak installation bugs fixed, fix incorrect game count in STL remove dialog, and some other features

Man, quite a list huh? And those are only the highlights…

Note that if you’re on Deck, make sure you’re using SteamOS 3.4 or later in order to use ModOrganizer2. This update has shipped to the stable branch a few days ago, so everyone should have it by now.

See the full patch notes on GitHub. I will likely have an updated video guide on how to get mods to work with Sonic Frontiers on Deck sometime next week with this new release, so stay tuned for that!

ProtonUp-Qt 2.7.7 Adds NorthstarProton and Steam-Play-None Compatibility Tools, ProtonDB Ratings to Game List

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 09:48:18 -0500

We’ve got a sweet new release for the excellent ProtonUp-Qt app, for managing all of your compatibility tools for Steam, Lutris, and more.

When viewing your game list, you can now check the ProtonDB ranking with the simple click of a button. Super convenient!

NorthstarProton and Steam-Play-None have been added as compatibility tools. The former is “a Proton build based on TKG’s Proton-tkg build system to run the Northstar client on Linux and SteamDeck, along with some enhancements out-of-the-box.” It’s basically the runner for Titanfall 2. The latter forces games with native clients to use said client, even if Valve recommends Proton.

For Lutris, you can now install D8VK and VKD3D-Proton.

If you don’t have an Internet connection, there will be an indicator. Or, at least there should be. I tested this and the window just says “Fetching releases…”

Finally, game list display should now work with the Flatpak version of Steam and after a recent Steam update.

Important: in order to see the new compatibility tools, you will need to check off “Enable advanced mode” from the About window!

Special thanks to sonic2kk – who is also a SteamTinkerLaunch contributor – for making this release possible.

See the patch notes and download on GitHub.

The GameCube Controller, Powered by Open-Source Firmware

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 07:44:47 -0500

If you follow me on Mastodon, you’re probably aware that I’m a bit of a Super Smash Bros. Melee fan. Someone in my Discord went so far as to call me a “Melee head.” It makes sense; there’s rarely a day that goes by without me playing a few singles or doubles matches. Melee is one of those games where it’s not only played for fun; my mind feels sharper, more focused. So, to get a controller that’s worth over $275, and dedicated specifically to this game, makes me excited. And honestly, it’s kind of refreshing to talk about something that doesn’t necessarily pertain to Linux or the Steam Deck – even though I play the game on both platforms.

History of Competitive GameCube Controllers, and the Solution that was Needed

When it comes to the competitive Smash scene, you won’t ever see the top players use a controller other than the GameCube controller. When I say GameCube controller, I mean the original one manufactured by Nintendo, not some third-party knockoff. Despite the huge amount of backlash Nintendo receives for their anti-consumer approach, their quality is top-notch when it comes to their hardware, at least when it comes to their GC controller. Third-party controllers tend to not have the same quality, and they are more likely to suffer from stick drift sooner (or peeled analog sticks…that’s happened to me before).

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But finding an OEM controller can be tough. Not only are they hard to find and expensive, but even if you do manage to get one, these controllers still suffer from wear and tear over time. The potentiometer for the sticks will wear, causing stick drift. Buttons may start to feel mushy rather than click-y. The springs in the triggers may not react the way that you’re used to when pressing them down.

The Goomwave was made to address this situation. It’s a motherboard that you can replace the vanilla PCB with. It’s designed to fix the digital inconsistencies of control sticks, and allow for button re-mapping. While this worked, it was very expensive. The PCB itself costs $150, and, according to Ixis - The Nerd Network, top players had to keep spending “hundreds of dollars” every couple of months on a new PCB just to stay competitive. On top of this the Goomwave had “infamously long ordering lines.” Matter of fact, if you go to the “Shop” page on the official site, you won’t even be able to find anything.

Benefits of PhobGCC

Enter the PhobGCC. It’s an open-source PCB that has the following benefits:

no potentiometer oddity degradation effect (PODE) – it doesn’t matter what kind of controller you use; the PS5 controller, the Xbox controller, the Switch Pro controller. They all use potentiometers, and what happens with those is that they will eventually wear over time, causing stick drift. Instead of using potentiometers, the PhobGCC uses Hall effect sensors and magnets. Since the sensor and magnet never touch, neither do they wear out. The result is you get a long, long-lasting controller that shouldn’t ever suffer from stick drift
no snapback – if you short hop laser with Falco, for example, you might have noticed he may turn around while in the air, making him shoot in a direction opposite of what you intended. This is because of a small amount of recoil that occurs when flicking the control stick and returning it to its neutral position. This results in snapback, causing your input to be registered in the opposite direction. There’s no snapback with the PhobGCC, ensuring that you’re always lasering in the direction you intended
consistent shield-dropping without universal controller fix (UCF)
customizable stick calibration, button swapping, Z-jump re-mapping, snapback filtering, and rumble strength
1.0 cardinals – based on the little research that I could find, this apparently gives players “access to the widest array of motion/largest choice of inputs”
discrete switches can be installed on the D-pad and/or face buttons

Your browser does not support the video tag. Video credit: n3zmodgod

Image credit: PhobGCC team

The great thing about the PhobGCC is that because it’s open-source, you can make a controller yourself. What’s even greater though, since I’m a journalist, is I get the benefit of receiving a review sample that someone else already made. I know, you’re jealous.

Getting the Controller and Getting it to Work on Linux

This controller is brought to you by Kyle, owner of MayhemMods on Etsy. It’s an imported Japanese Smash Ultimate controller, and not only does it come with the PhobGCC; it also comes with modifications! Such as:

cherry MX right trigger – this allows for easier trigger presses. Makes wavedashing, techrolls, and L-cancelling a snap
FIRES left trigger – lubricated trigger with less resistance than OEM trigger, and offers increased stabilization and smoother gliding. Eliminates trigger jams and decreased wear on your finger. Supposedly the lubrication decreases spring noise, but it’s still pretty loud in my experience. Not that it’s a bad thing though
paracord sleeved cable – this allows the cable to be easily replaced without having to solder. Apparently it also reduces tangles

The package arrived in my mailbox precisely three weeks ago. Inside of the sleeve was the Smash Ultimate controller box. Even though the controller had already been opened up to be modified, it was in great shape when it came in and protected very well inside the box.

I specifically requested that Kyle send me a red paracord cable, and he did not disappoint. I personally think it’s a nice color combination with the black shell.

Here’s some teardown pics:

You may need to add a rule to rules.d, install wii-u-gc-adapter, and then modprobe uinput in order to get your GC adapter to work on Linux. That’s what I had to do on Fedora. These steps may not be necessary on Arch though.

The PCB is version 1.2.3. The firmware version is 0.27. It’s not the new 2.0.2 board, but the arrival of the gamepad was good timing, as ranked just showed up less than two weeks ago. I’ll admit I’m not the most competitive player out there, but I can assure you I’ll definitely have the upper-hand now with this new controller.

When using a Phob controller, you need to press B while Melee is running through Dolphin/Ishiiruka to activate the analog sticks. I had been pointed out that the third-party GC adapter that I was using before would not work with this controller, and that was indeed the case. I could technically use it by setting the adapter to PC mode and then configuring the buttons through Dolphin, but the best practice is to set the adapter in Wii U/Switch mode and selecting “GameCube Adapter for Wii U” in the controller configuration menu. And in order to do that, I had to order a Mayflash adapter. The nice thing about this is the buttons are automatically configured for you; typically any other gamepad requires manual configuration of the buttons.

How the Controller Feels

So how has the experience been? Very good. Wavedashing with the right trigger is easier thanks to the cherry MX switch. Only a little pressure is needed to press the switch down – this will definitely help in keeping my fingers from getting tendonitis. L-cancelling is also easier to land, allowing for quicker reactions after landing to the ground. Since the right trigger is digital input only, I still have the benefit of an analog trigger on the left. This is useful for light-shielding, and because the spring is trimmed and lubricated, this also makes finger-pressing not as painful after a while.

Something that I don’t really see anyone talk about is the control stick in regards to how much easier it is to rotate this in a circle when escaping out of a grab than with other gamepads. It’s much easier to do that on this controller than it was on my DualSense, in a way that’s hard to explain. I think I can also rotate the stick at a faster rate as well. Now it’s not that difficult to escape an enemy’s grab when my character is at low damage.

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As far as latency is concerned, well, I don’t have a high-speed camera to compare input lag on this controller to the DualSense or Xbox Series pad, but from the naked eye, this controller does seem to be a lot more responsive. It feels like my input is faster. Which, obviously for a fast-paced game like Melee, is essential.

And I mean, talk about the nicest modder you’ll ever talk to. The face buttons admittedly felt a bit mushy in my opinion. I asked Kyle what I could do about that. He offered to send me Battlebeaver pads which offer more clicky-ness. Not only did he send that over, but he also sent a new triwing screwdriver so I could take the controller apart. (I had one before; it was just a little too small for the screws on the back of the gamepad.) After replacing the button pads, I can confirm the face buttons are more satisfying to press and more clicky!

Overclocking

It is possible to overclock the GC adapter on Linux desktop. By default, the controller polls at a rate of 125 Hz, or every eight milliseconds. You can increase the polling rate to 1,000 Hz, or every millisecond. This reduces input lag to make it more closely resemble console play, while also improving latency stability.

You can technically use the GC adapter with the Steam Deck via a USB-C dock, but you’ll be locked to 125 Hz. There are instructions for overclocking, but I do NOT recommend following these steps for the time being, as they do not work. Hopefully that guide will get updated at some point.

Oh, and apparently it’s better to connect your controller to port 2 on the Mayflash adapter, but no explaination is given as to why that is.

PhobGCC - Is It Worth Your Time?

I have to admit, getting a controller as customized and expensive as this, all for just one single game, is a little overkill if you’re not a competitive player (although I suppose you could also use it with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Slap City, Rivals of Aether, MultiVersus, and other Smash-like games).

But if you want a controller that’s basically going to last you a lifetime, without any wear or tear on the analog sticks, without needing to worry about stick drift over time, no accidental turning around in midair when performing a special move, consistent shield-dropping, customizable calibration, and super fast input, I’d say the PhobGCC is a solid choice. What’s nice is that this controller in particular also has modified triggers for easier pressing and execution of certain techniques, and a paracord sleeve cable for a nice red touch, reduced tangles, and easy removal.

If you want to save yourself a little bit of money, you can build your own controller rather than getting a pre-built one, but you’ll need some soldering skills and a lot of different parts to order.

TL;DR

The good:

open-source PCB
will last much longer than any controller that uses potentiometers; no stick drift
no snapback
consistent shield-drops without UCF
just about everything can be customized, from button mappings to vibration strength to control stick sensitivity
very, very responsive
modified triggers for easier pressing and less wear on your fingers
paracord sleeve cable for customized color, and less tangles
the nicest modder you’ll ever have the pleasure of talking to

The not-so-good:

expensive
admittedly niche, as it’s mostly just for one game and aimed towards competitive players

The controller starts at $275. Depending on the mods you want to configure, it may cost extra. Check it out on Etsy. It’s currently out of stock but you can see Kyle’s other mods in the meantime.

PhobGCC 2.0.2 Makes Firmware Updating Easier, Connection to C-Stick More Reliable

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 22:54:24 -0500

PhobGCC. Chances are you’ve probably never heard of it. Allow GitHub to explain what it is:

The PhobGCC is a replacement motherboard for Gamecube controllers that reads stick position using magnets and Hall effect sensors instead of potentiometers that can wear out. It offers an advanced digital snapback filter that doesn’t reduce responsiveness and actually improves responsiveness in Melee. It also features gate calibration, swappable buttons, and facilitates installation of discrete switches on the D-pad and face buttons.

Basically, it’s an open-source PCB for the GameCube pad. It’s mostly aimed toward competitive Smash players, since it makes “a high-performance, customizable, long-lasting controller.” I’ll get into more details about it in tomorrow’s review.

Since the design is open-source, you can freely print and customize the PCB yourself (although it seems very complicated…good thing I have a pre-built one), and it comes with updates. Today, version 2.0.2 of the board released. Here are the new features:

RP2040 microcontroller chip directly soldered on for consistent availability
Easier firmware updating; simply hold the button while plugging in USB and drag-and-drop a firmware file
PhobVision composite video output for guided calibration and graphical configuration with written explanations
SMD-mounted Hall Effect sensors for consistent placement
Low-noise discrete ADCs for Hall Effect sensor measurement
Digital communication with the C-stick daughterboard for a more reliable connection
Reoriented C-stick daughterboard connection to reduce strain on wires
All pads have been revised for easier soldering, with oval footprints and thermal relief between pads and fill
Main stickbox now is oriented the same as in an OEM controller
Separate Z button pads for shell-mounted mouseclick Z and reverse Z
Extra USB connections for use with Model U daughterboard to provide USB-C GCC cable support and flashing without opening the case
Four extra GPIO pins exposed for miscellaneous other uses

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: PhobGCC team

Steam Winter Sale Now Live! Some Great Steam Deck Verified Titles on Sale

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:08:11 -0500

Steam’s winter sale just kicked off, and with it are several decent titles on sale. Here’s some recommended games, all of which are Steam Deck Verified:

Action Adventure/RPG

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered – 25% off
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – 25% off
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade – 43% off
Horizon Zero Dawn – 67% off
Tunic – 10% off
Cuphead – 30% off
Sackboy: A Big Adventure – 33% off
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time – 50% off

Fighting

Gang Beasts – 60% off, native!
Skullgirls – 90% off, native!
Lethal League Blaze – 35% off, native!
Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 – 70% off

Racing

Dirt 5 – 70% off

Roguelike

Hades – 50% off

Other

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator – 76% off
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge – 20% off, native!
and many, many others that would make this list too long…

Sale starts from now until January 5th!

What are you planning on picking up? Let me know!

You Can (Apparently) Run Portal RTX on AMD

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 12:25:54 -0500

Looks like Reddit user Spacefish008 got Portal with RTX running on a 5700 XT. They note that they get “~45 FPS on 846x643” on High settings. All that’s needed is the RADV_PERFTEST=rt,emulate_rt %command% launch parameter. The OP explains how this works:

It uses DirectX and DXVK exposes the DXR APIs to the game if it detects raytracing support in the underlying Vulkan driver. The Vulkan driver is RADV, which can emulate raytracing via shaders on older-gen AMD GPUs like NAVI10 / RDNA1.

They also have a video showcasing the game with simulated ray-tracing.

Note that I added the word “apparently” in the title because it’s not working on my end with a 6700 XT and Mesa 23. The game will launch but it will crash at the main menu. Using different versions of Proton didn’t help. I’m going to take a wild wager that the ray-tracing works with older RDNA1 cards and not RDNA2, which is what the 6700 XT uses (but I’d love it if someone could fill me in on the actual reason why it’s not working).

Since the Deck is using RDNA2 as well, Portal with RTX probably won’t run on it with this setting. Matter of fact, running the game without any launch parameters makes a very trippy experience. I might give it a try though.

Proton 7.0-6 Now Available for Testing, Adds Compatibility with Gotham Knights and UNCHARTED Collection, Fixes 20 Bugs

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 10:24:56 -0500

Somehow I missed this. This has been around for a week now (thanks to GOL for noticing). At any rate, Proton 7.0-6 is now available as a release candidate. Playable titles include:

20 bugs have been fixed, ranging from the OSK on Deck for A Plague Tale: Requiem, Xbox Live login fail for As Dusk Falls, multiple monitor support for Project CARS 2, and the blank window when starting the EA app launcher. Four of them are dedicated just to Microsoft Flight Simulator:

Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator crashing during longer flights.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator not displaying live traffic.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator not starting after a recent game update.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator crashing when starting next to big cities.
Fix being unable to log in to Xbox Live from Main Menu in As Dusk Falls.
Fix Septerra Core hanging on redistributables installation.
Fix Super House of Dead Ninjas, Enemy Mind, and Out There Somewhere frame hitching every few seconds.
Fix on-screen keyboard popping up every time when starting A Plague Tale: Requiem on the Steam Deck.
Fix Zeepkist freezing when using controller.
Fix Overcooked! All You Can Eat being unable to add a second controller-using player.
Fix Quake III: Arena and Quake III: Team Arena displaying weird texture over the menu.
Fix the new EA launcher displaying a blank window.
Fix Marvel Snap not being able connect to online services.
Fix Sackboy: A Big Adventure failing to start the first time it’s launched.
Fix Spyro Reignited Trilogy playing intro video in a wrong language.
Fix Jurassic World Evolution 2 bad performance with recent Proton versions.
Fix multiple monitor support in Project Cars 2.
Fix Korean not being rendered correctly in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII launcher.
Fix multiple languages not rendering correctly in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion.
Fix Lost Lands: Dark Overlord, Lost Lands: Dark Lord, Lost Lands: Redemption, and Haunted Hotel: Silent Waters Collector’s Edition crashing when trying to set a wallpaper.

Additionally, wine-mono has been updated to 7.4.0, and DXVK-NVAPI to 0.6. The latter update reports the Ada architecture for NVIDIA 4000 series, fixes DLSS from failing on Ada and later cards, prevents startup crashes with Monster Hunter World on Turing and later cards, internal optimzations, and some other features.

See the patch notes on GitHub. If you come across any issues with this release, be sure to report them on that thread.

As a reminder, to get access to the release candidate build, right-click Proton 7.0 in your Steam library (make sure “Tools” is checked off on the top-left dropdown menu to see it) -> Properties -> Betas -> Select release-candidate from the dropdown menu.

Cover image credit: Warner Bros. Games

SteamOS 3.4 Now Stable, Updates Arch Base, Allows Screen Tearing, Enables TRIM (And Much More!)

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 09:44:35 -0500

SteamOS 3.4 has now reached the stable branch. I’m not going to re-hash what I’ve already said about it, but as a quick refresh, here’s a few of the new features:

update to the Arch base; Plasma, Mesa, GLIBC, and more software have been updated
KDE Connect is now included
tons of bug fixes, ranging from graphics driver crashes to input to audio
new firmware for docking station
you can now force vsync off by enabling screen tearing
level 2 MangoHUD now goes across the screen rather than going down; perfect for games that use 16:9
TRIM has been re-enabled
eject option added for removable drives
automatic mounting of ext4 external drives
support for 8BitDo Ultimate wireless controller dongle

Two hotfixes were added later on to “address a regression in how SD cards were handled” and to “fix an issue with HDMI/DisplayPort audio going to sleep after being idle on external displays.” And I guess hardware encoding for remote play works now.

CryoByte33, author of the CryoUtilities script, has added a friendly reminder that “you need to check that the VRAM setting persisted in BIOS and can optionally disable my TRIM-on-schedule,” since TRIM has already been re-enabled with this release.

See the full patch notes on Steam.

Wine 8.0 RC2 Fixes 50 Bugs, Including Unreal Tournament 99, Warframe, Resident Evil 7, and More

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 09:16:48 -0500

Wine 8.0 has reached the release candidate stages. RC1 upgraded VKD3D to 1.6, provided an improved joystick control panel, and fixed 52 bugs. Now RC2 has arrived, and with it are 50 bug fixes. Note that from here on out Wine 8.0 is in a feature freeze; only bugs will get fixed from here on out.

There’s quite a few gaming-related fixes in RC2:

there should no longer be a crash when bringing up the Steam overlay with a PE build of VKD3D with D3D12 support
gamepad buttons should now work properly and no longer be delayed
Unreal Tournament 99 mouse clicks in main menu should now continue to work after first click
Warframe should no longer crash when loading before menu with WineD3D
Kholat (GOG version) should now run
Silent Hill 2 should no longer get the -installshield extraction error while installing
performance degradation fixes for World of Warcraft and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men demo
construction set extender mod for ESO should no longer crash
Resident Evil 7 should now properly render in DX11 mode
Chicken Tournament should no longer crash on start
Serious Sam 2 should no longer crash with OpenGL renderer

Some other fixes have made it in as well; see the full patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Capcom

Proton Experimental Enables Compatibility with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Improved Steering Wheel Support

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 15:32:27 -0500

The first day of winter also marks a new update to Proton Experimental. Small one, but a good one.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt now apparently works – I’m assuming this is in reference to the recent DX12 upgrade that had been broken for so many people. Support for steering wheels has been improved, but in what way, the patch notes don’t mention. You might be able to take a look at the commit history to get a hint.

Two fixes have been added for Mortal Kombat X and Youropa. The former had a regression – it should now run with decent performance. The latter has a “OpenGL launch option” fixed.

Lastly, DXVK-NVAPI has been updated to 0.6 (although I think this was already added in the previous update). This reports the Ada architecture for NVIDIA 4000 series, fixes DLSS from failing on Ada and later cards, prevents startup crashes with Monster Hunter World on Turing and later cards, internal optimzations, and some other features.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: frecle

An Interview with Ben Romer, Ubuntu Developer

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 10:57:21 -0500

Turns out one of my followers on Mastodon is a developer for Ubuntu/Canonical. I had the pleasure of interviewing what he does for Ubuntu – he’s one of the kernel developers (Livepatch – he’ll explain what that is). It’s a pretty interesting interview, as he explains the controversy behind Snaps, why Ubuntu moved on from Unity to GNOME a few years ago, what’s going on with the Mir display server, and what we can look forward to in regards to the gaming aspect on Ubuntu. He even expresses his thoughts outside of Canonical/Ubuntu, such as what he thinks about the Steam Deck, what his gaming habits are, if AMD is better than NVIDIA or vice-versa, etc.

What I really appreciated about his answers is, instead of giving the typical PR response to most questions, he actually is very honest. I think you’ll appreciate this too. Bold has been added by me.

TL;DR

Ben Romer works as a kernel developer (full-time, from home in Philadelphia, PA) and has been doing so since 2015
mostly spends his work time in the terminal, using such tools as GCC, Python, Bash, git, etc.
familiar with many programming languages, but mostly develops with C
favorite games include action RPGs such as Phantasy Star and competitive titles like DOTA and Counter-Strike
uses an ASUS ROG Strix G15 laptop for both development and gaming purposes (RTX 2070 Super)
prefers AMD over NVIDIA, but NVIDIA is “OK”
impressed by the Deck’s hardware and software, but would like to see a better transition for Gaming Mode and Desktop Mode (held horizontally, Game Mode; vertically, Desktop Mode)
describes Ubuntu as “easy to maintain, frequently updated, and not usually too hard to fix when it does break”
Canonical “has started up a team for improving gaming, and they’re working their way through aligning people in the company to focus on it.” This would include better Steam Snap support, better gaming support on the kernel level, better NVIDIA support, and perhaps even more anti-cheat support!
outside of Ubuntu/GNOME, he’s fond of Plasma and GNUStep
the Unity desktop was abandoned in favor of GNOME since many of the devs behind it (as well as Ubuntu Touch) were laid off
Snaps are good for IoT devices and servers for smaller storage footprint and automatic updates, but he admits Snaps are otherwise a “mixed bag”
frustrated at the disintegration between software devs just focusing on their program and distro maintainers ensuring the program works on that distro

Explain who you are and how you ended up working for Canonical.

My name’s Ben Romer, I’ve been a programmer and Linux user since 1995. In the past I worked for Unisys, doing SVR4 and .NET code, and had been a fan of Ubuntu since 6.04. Unisys laid me off (as part of a mass layoff) from my job there as kernel upstream engineer, and I took the opportunity to apply at Canonical, and got hired. I’ve been working on Livepatch ever since.

Image credit: Unisys

Outside of work I like esports, and karate; was an instructor pre-COVID.

Do you work at home, or does Canonical have a physical location where it’s required to work in the office? Are you full-time or part-time?

I work full time from home (Philly PA, USA!) and nearly everyone in the company is remote and full time. We have a small, permanent UK office. The company has large-group week-long meetings every year around release time, so every six months or so, everyone in engineering gets together for a week to talk about work and socialize. It’s a real job perk – I’ve been to a bunch of places in Europe I’d never have had the chance to go otherwise.

How long have you been working at Canonical, and what do you typically do there?

I’ve worked at Canonical for nearly 7 years. I was put on our Livepatch project, day one, and have been doing that the entire time. Livepatch is a security tool that lets us fix (some) holes while a system is still up, to give the sysop time to prepare for a reboot when convenient. My job is to take security fixes, modify them so they’ll work when loaded at runtime, build, test, release, and maintain those patch modules.

Image credit: Canonical

What set of software tools do you use for your daily workflow?

My working set is fairly standard for an Ubuntu kernel dev, so GCC, Python, Bash, git with code being stored on Launchpad (of course), and Debian packaging tools. It’s all CLI so I spend most of my work time in the terminal. I also use kvm and lxd daily, for testing things out.

What programming languages are you familiar with, and which one do you usually work with?

Ahh, languages were kind of my thing for a while, so I know many. C is my main thing for projects, with all of its usual accompanying tools for generating code (flex/bison for instance) and debugging (valgrind/efence/etc). In no particular order I’ve also used Python, Delphi, Vala, Java, Javascript, Lisp, Modula-3, and several less common ones like FORTRAN and Ada. I’ve also made toy compilers for Java and C, but nothing serious.

Are you a gamer? If so, what games do you typically enjoy playing?

I LOVE games. My first gaming system was the Atari 2600, and during the console wars, I was on team Sega.

My favorite games are action RPGs (Phantasy Star, in particular), and side-scroll platformers, indie games, and competitive games (so DOTA, Counter-Strike, Overwatch). Anything with good art and a sci-fi/fantasy setting is perfect.

Image credit: Sega

Indie games are really the best, though. I love seeing the creativity and being able to talk right to the people doing the making.

What hardware do you have inside of your gaming rig?

Hardware-wise I go for gaming laptops, due to those trips I mentioned – currently I’m on an ASUS ROG Strix G15. Having a powerful but portable system lets me work and play anywhere I go, and (with the exception of sound) ROG hardware has just worked with Ubuntu. I wanted to get their Advantage model for my last upgrade, which was an RX 6800, but with the GPU shortage it was really hard to find, so I ended up on an RTX 2070 Super.

Image credit: ASUS

AMD or NVIDIA, and why?

AMD vs Nvidia is a hard question. There’s so many variables! For example, right now I’m on Nvidia and Xorg – which is solid – because Wayland is still very buggy on Nvidia. I get weird ghosting issues on Death Stranding (pun not intended), and ugh, if you’ve ever tried to run Nvidia Prime and Wayland at the same time, you’ve experienced some real pain. If I had AMD, I’d probably be on Wayland, and happier – but it just wasn’t available how I wanted it at the time.

The AMD in the Steam Deck though, man, what an amazing setup, I wish I could get THAT in a laptop, with a fat battery and laptop hardware next to it. Give me an eight-hour-battery gaming rig with keyboard and mouse controls please! Anyhow, now that Nvidia’s drivers are in the process of being open-sourced, maybe some of the sharp edges will go away, and we’ll see a more fair competiton there, but if I could get anything I wanted, I’d be on an AMD right now. But Nvidia is OK.

Image credit: Tom’s Hardware

Do you have a Steam Deck, and if so, what are your thoughts on it?

I freakin’ LOVE my Steam Deck. It’s such a great bit of hardware – so customizable, and SteamOS is very, very impressive, and it’s a pretty damn good gaming system even on its own!

The one thing I do wish was a bit smoother is the desktop/gaming mode transition. If it were me designing it, I would have had both modes available at the same time - specifically, held horizontal it’s in game mode, but held vertically, it’s a tablet. Would have been great for guides and such.

Once Ubuntu’s kernel gets support in place and can be a really viable choice on the Deck, I’d like to set up a custom build of Ubuntu that works like I described, maybe do some additional integration with other stores, and native games as well. Maybe even get an Android environment packaged up, and be able to play their games too.

But yeah, the Deck is really a masterpiece of hardware design. I love it.

Explain why a person might want to use Ubuntu as their daily driver for gaming and everyday use.

While I’m not really fond of distro wars, I will say there is a lot to really like about Debian, Ubuntu, and derivatives. It’s easy to maintain, frequently updated, and not usually too hard to fix when it does break. Gaming-wise, you can get nearly every major Linux gaming tool in a well-maintained .deb format. On the kernel team we have several people responsible for video and a lot of direct contact with hardware vendors, so bugs get addressed fairly quickly.

The thing I really like about Ubuntu is the desktop. The dock reminds me a lot of my college-years OS (NeXT); it’s fast and easy to maintain, and if you don’t like the tools Canonical’s picked, you can swap them out for KDE, or another store. It’s quite flexible, but the main benefit (in my honest opinion) is sane default settings for packages. A good amount of the time, you can just install the .deb and be done with it.

Image credit: Dell

Canonical isn’t doing enough for gaming – but is changing. Recently the company has started up a team for improving gaming, and they’re working their way through aligning people in the company to focus on it.

While there are some very unpopular things about Ubuntu (Snaps…), overall the hardware support is good, the desktop is quick and easy to learn, and it’s easy to approach it from a software dev standpoint.

What specifically can we look forward to regarding the gaming aspect for Ubuntu?

Back at the end of April, we opened up a Snap-packaged version of Steam for trials, and started hiring people for “the Ubuntu gaming experience team” in May. There was of course a whole bunch of work done around this to enable the Steam Snap, and now have about a dozen devs working directly on gaming support and related stuff, like the Nvidia drivers.

There’s a lot about the Steam snap that just doesn’t work like Snap wants (like GameScope, for instance). Snap is actually very much at odds with how games tend to work – games wanting control of the whole machine, more or less. It’s just a straight up conflict of needs. Steam wants full access to a ton of devices, and gamers want to install things wherever they want, they want customized Proton, they need to tweak configs, install mods, all of that – while one of Snap’s primary purposes is to default to “no access” – so we need to fix that, as well as making those things easy.

We’re just shy of 40 people in total with their eyes on the ball – kernel people, devs for Snap, devs for Steam support, maintainers of FOSS games, and also people you might not expect, like our cloud service devs. After all, we want to be able to play, but we don’t want to create risk by doing that. Just imagine how embarrassing it would be for some gaming-focused feature to cause a cloud provider to get compromised.

I’m no oracle, but I can tell you what I’m looking forward to, and trying to push.

In the short term, I’d look for the Steam Snap to get a lot better, for better gaming support in the kernel, and more specifically for our Nvidia driver support to improve a lot. Longer term, I’d personally like to look at things we can do with livepatching to improve gaming – who knows, maybe it’ll help us get more anti-cheat systems on board? That’s the kind of thing I’d love to work on.

Any distros/DEs/window managers outside of Ubuntu that you like?

I’m really fond of Plasma, not specifically the Steam Deck’s packaging of it, but just in general. Part of it is a fondness for QT and C++, and the desktop itself is just gorgeous. I’m too heavily invested in GTK apps though to really switch. Every now and then I’ll get on a nostalgia kick and go see how GNUStep is doing, I really miss the elegant simplicity of NeXT, but it’s just so niche I don’t think I could get away with it as a daily driver.

Image credit: u/amradoofamash

Starting with Ubuntu 18.04, Canonical shifted from their Unity desktop to GNOME. Why was this change made?

I had just started with Canonical when the desktop and phone layoffs happened, so I don’t have a whole lot of insider info, but I’ll tell you what I do know.

You might remember the Ubuntu Phone project, which ended at the same time? The switch-over was primarily because of that. A lot of Unity devs were laid off, and quite a few from Mir too. If I recall correctly, this was justified by the community complaints about Ubuntu being non-standard, and of course, the phone wasn’t taking off.

Image credit: FossBytes

Now, I really liked Unity, and I loved what was going on with the development tools back then; there was a definite push for QT/KDE to become the choice for desktop/phone apps, which would have been great since QT targets Android too, but (again if I recall correctly) the phone just wasn’t doing well enough. Unity 8 is still around [now renamed to Lomiri] though being developed outside Canonical now, Mir lives on as a display manager for IoT devices (mainly), and of course Snaps stuck around…

You had alluded to Snaps as being “unpopular.” Why is there so much controversy behind Snaps? From your viewpoint, what are the advantages of this packaging system?

And they’re quite divisive in my experience. I think a lot of the hate comes from early issues with them – they were slow, there were bugs, snapd is yet another long-running networked service, you can’t control update timing – and some things still linger on, like requiring app developers to adapt their code to know if it’s in a Snap (or not). There’s also the heavy-handed changeovers of popular browsers to Snap, and that made a lot of people angry too.

And then there’s of course the political issues with packaging – if you’re a hardcore advocate of your distro’s packaging, you’ll see Snaps (and Flatpak) as kind of a parasitic distribution, because they replace your focused work to package for your distro with this claim of being “generic.” Of course, they’re not really generic, just different – and have the same kinds of support library issues as DEB/RPM/whatever.

Image credit: It’s FOSS

From a security standpoint Snaps are a mixed bag – sure, they’re containerized, but the vast majority of Snaps require access to your home directory, and if there’s a security bug in a library, you have to rebuild and replace every Snap that uses it, instead of just updating your distro library and being secure. Finally, Snap was pitched as a way to get updates to users faster, but most Snaps have debs as dependencies anyway, so it’s not really any faster.

Snap’s primary advantages really only show when you’re talking about IoT devices or servers, and some of the annoyances actually become advantages. With Snaps there, you have only the bits of software you actually need to run, so it cuts the storage footprint down; you get fully automated updates, which reduces admin workload and/or simplifies maintenance for an end-user who might not even know what OS is running; and it’s all containerized, so one update doesn’t break all.

Some time ago, `sudo apt install <package_name>` got aliased to `sudo snap install <package_name>`. Can you comment as to why this change was made?

I’m not intimately familiar with why things around packaging get changed – often times, these decisions are made by the maintainers of a package, or as part of a push for something else. I’m just a kernel guy. But I can give you some educated guesses here, and maybe talk a bit about packaging again.

So Ubuntu (and Canonical) get a lot of criticism from a lot of angles re:packaging. There’s people who say “Ubuntu is just stealing from Debian,” that kind of narrow mindset… It’s not really a valid criticism in my honest opinion – a lot of Canonical employees are Debian devs, so I’d say the situation is more like Fedora/RHEL was. Devs have to eat too, and Ubuntu does that – and is still free anyway. But then, when we do come up with a (universal!) packaging scheme like Snap, the same sort of criticisms come up. It’s not an argument you can ever win, because every user and every dev has their own use cases.

Image credit: XKCD

To make it worse, when devs have to split their attention like that – now I have to package a deb, Flatpak, Snap, RPM, each with specific requirements, the devs get frustrated, and everyone just ends up unhappy. The thing that sucks here is, distros were meant to remove that problem – the upstream devs focus on their program, and the distro maintainers focus on making it work on their distro, you know, a strong separation between development and integration.

It’s partially the fault of these universal packaging systems in my honest opinion – “just Snap or Flatpak” it, sure, but now you have to test it everywhere instead. That’s what the distro was supposed to do – package it, test it, bang out bug reports. Add in neglect of competing packaging systems and marketing people making demands, and you end up with a less-than-useful store, and “forced” transitions between formats, even if the devs were the ones that asked to change it.

I don’t really have anything else to add, but I do want to say thank you! to everyone who’s supported Ubuntu or one of it’s derivatives, and to Linux users and FOSS users in general. There’s something magical about seeing people thrive through sharing and I hope our way of making things grows to become something universal.

Thanks to you, too, for putting up with my rambling!

Ben Romer (BroWren) is on Mastodon if you want to give him a follow. He also has his own website, Cyborg Central. If you’re fond of a retro-looking font, I think you’ll like it!

Play Sonic Adventure 2 in HD - Modding Guide

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 12:21:41 -0500

Sonic Adventure 2 – the cult classic. Fans have gotten together to make the game moddable. From an extended Chao World, to the ability to play as Super Sonic or Super Shadow, to revamped cutscenes, it’s amazing to see what the modding community has been able to accomplish to make a great game even greater.

But for today’s guide, we’ll be focusing on giving the game a modern HD look. Not only are the character models replaced with more modern-looking ones, but the mod also contains a sound redesign. Audio no longer clips harshly, the audio balancing has been re-worked, audio’s been added for karts, BGM has been replaced, you name it. Stages have also received new vertex paint, textures, lighting, fog, overlays, and grass effects. Physics have been revamped. For example, speed characters will have increased acceleration the more rings they have.

This guide is for both Linux desktop and Steam Deck users. It’s mostly the same steps for each device, but I will make note if there’s anything different to do if you’re on Deck.

Keep in mind this mod is a bit unstable. If you load the wrong character into a stage, for instance, the game will crash due to not having the animations for that character. Story mode will crash after completing the first stage.

Backup your Save File Before Proceeding

I recommend getting a save file that has 100% completion so you can use stage select. Extract the save file to /resource/gd_PC/SAVEDATA/ in the game’s installation directory. Backup your original save file if you have one in there.

1. Get the Mod Loader

The mod loader is available to download over on GameBanana. After downloading, extract the archive to the root folder of your game’s install directory. By default this would be:

~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Sonic Adventure 2/

An easy way of getting access to your install folder is by right-clicking the game on Steam -> Manage -> Browse local files.

After extracting, there should be an executable file called SA2ModManager.exe. Make sure Wine is installed on your system. If you’re on Steam Deck, you may need to install Lutris and run the app this way, since it may not launch with Wine directly.

We will add the mods later. For now, go to the Graphics tab. Set your desired resolution. You can optionally check “Lock framerate” if you’re using a monitor with a high refresh rate to keep the game from going over 60 FPS.

In the Options tab, make sure “Disable loading animation” is checked, as apparently without this the HD mod will have crashing issues. Might also be worth checking off “Skip Intro” to save yourself some time when booting the game. Note that “Enable 1-Click Install” does not work for getting mods, at least for me.

Click “Save”. Note that you will probably be asked to install the mod loader when you click this button for the first time. Go ahead and do so. The application will close, but you should be able to open it back up with the mod loader installed.

2. Get the Mods

Now let’s get our mods. In addition to getting Modern SA2, you will also need:

HedgePanel – fixes homing attack and fast somersault
Character Select Plus – required to see Sonic’s version of White Jungle
SA2 Volume Controls – fixes audio engine
No Model Tinting – fixes models being tinted darker than they should be

Optional, but recommended mods are as follows:

Action Remap – remaps the light dash to the Y/Triangle button
No Battle and Menu Overhaul – cleaner menus with “pretty coloured backgrounds”
Reworked Afterimages – enables colored, lit-up light dash models for Sonic and Shadow
Amy New Tricks – allows Amy to be a playable character, since the mod doesn’t fully support her just yet

Extract all of these mods to the mods/ folder inside the game install directory. For Modern SA2, copy and replace the obj.pak file from the archive into resource/Shader/win32/. This restores the brightness from the Dreamcast version of the game.

Your mods/ folder would look something like this:

3. Configure Mods and Codes

Open the mod manager again. If the mods were extracted to the right place, they should now be showing up in the Mods tab.

Individual mods can be enabled or disabled by checking off the box next to them. Note that some mods will have a configuration window available for them. If you click the mod, the “Configure…” button won’t be greyed out. We’re going to need to configure some of these mods, so see the screenshot below for the configuration of each one.

So for the Reworked Afterimages mod, you would change the light dash behavior to LoD2. For the HedgePanel mod, you would change “Random Homing Attack Sounds” and “Bounce up after Light Attack” options to false. For the SA2 Volume Controls, you can change this to your liking. I have everything set to 100 except for the Music Volume; that’s set to 80.

Now head to the Codes tab. Make sure “Shadow Has Bounce Bracelet” and “Squash n Stretch Bounce Effect” codes are checked off; they should be by default.

Click “Save” from the bottom left corner of the window when you’re done.

4. See the Game in HD

Launch the game from Steam. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s possible to skip the launcher while keeping the mods intact. But feel free to let me know if there’s a solution for that.

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Feel free to add other mods as desired. Should you want to disable any of them, use the mod manager. You can see a video of the HD mod in action here.

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Search Tab for Controller Layout, Fixes Library Not Showing Up when Family View is Enabled (Plus Stable and Preview SteamOS Updates)

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 11:17:52 -0500

When browsing controller profiles on the Deck, you can now search for them with today’s (or yesterday’s?) Deck client update (on beta and preview branches). Your library should now properly load if you have Family View enabled. More buttons have been added to the list of inputs “that skip the BPM/Deck start up animations.” A regression was fixed regarding Yaw and Roll combined sliders. Negative contribution from either one is now respected.

Also, if you’re on the Preview branch, you should have got an update that “fixed an audio driver bug that could lead to on-board audio crackling in some situations.” Stable branch users also got an update that fixes a regression for the Steam library view in Desktop Mode and the lockscreen PIN reset sequence. Also, gamepad focus and footer buttons in the Steam store should now properly work.

NVIDIA to Retire GameStream in February 2023

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 11:18:26 -0500

A bit of sad news. NVIDIA is apparently shutting down its GameStream service sometime in February next year. Despite all the crap I give to NVIDIA, their GameStream service is excellent. It arguably has the best streaming quality with the least amount of latency, and even though the company essentially locks the service behind GeForce Experience, the community has come up with open-source alternatives – such as Sunshine – to get the host to run outside of Windows and NVIDIA GPUs.

No word was given as to why it’s being shut down. I can only guess that the green giant is probably trying to prioritize other features over something that perhaps didn’t generate much revenue for them. The service has been around for close to 10 years. Hopefully, we can still make use of NVIDIA’s technology with Sunshine/Moonlight after it gets discontinued. You can see my guide if you want to get that set up (the guide is specific for the Deck, but you can use any computer as the host).

JSAUX Announces ModCase -- The Project Killswitch Killer

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 10:00:17 -0500

So JSAUX had been concocting an idea after another company stole their idea of having an RGB dock. Well, today they’ve unveiled what exactly they’ve been working on – the ModCase.

It’s a modular case that seems to be similar to what the Project Killswitch and the DeckMate were offering – the ability to customize what you want to accessorize on your Steam Deck.

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Price starts at $30 as the basic set with the front and back cover, a bracket that acts like a kickstand, and a strap that looks very similar to a watch. Parts can be added, going all the way up to the ultimate kit, which would be $140. The ultimate kit includes a cooler, a hub, power bank kit, and a M.2 slot kit.

A really neat addition is the cooler kit, which can lower the Deck’s temperature “by up to 18° C” (64° F). The hub supports 4K @ 120Hz, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, 100W PD charging, two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, full-size SD card slot, headphone jack, and Gigabit Ethernet.

Pre-orders start today. Orders are expected to be shipped before January 6th or the 20th, depending on what you order with the kit. Should be getting a sample after the holidays, so stay tuned for a review.

GE-Proton7-43 Fixes Garbled Audio with Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Allows Hairworks on The Witcher 3

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 00:09:43 -0500

Immortals: Fenyx Rising came to Steam a few days ago. However, it has evidently faced quite a few issues for both Steam Desk and Linux desktop users. Namely, the occasional pop-up of the Ubisoft Connect overlay, the keyboard and mouse configuration being applied by default when using a gamepad, garbled audio, and black line flickering on the grass rendering.

Fortunately, GE-Proton is here to once again save the day. Well, at least, partly. GE-Proton7-43 should fix “cutscene audio skips” and “garbled output.” I haven’t tested the game myself, so there’s likely the overlay pop-up issues and black line flickering remaining. But it’s a step in the right direction to making this game more playable.

The Witcher 3 – presumably in reference to the recent DX12 upgrade – no longer crashes with hairworks enabled. So in theory all you would need to disable on NVIDIA is the AO.

For other game-specific fixes, the launcher for Baldur’s Gate 3 is skipped, and the game uses Vulkan by default. A fix was added for Gears 5 in regards to the hang after pressing the Enter key on the logo screen. The game drive option for Elder Scrolls Online should now properly be applied. This fixes the installation, but keep in mind you’ll still need to press the Space key on the black window. The Protonfix for Fall Guys was updated – it no longer needs the .exe workaround.

Besides this, the usual set of software tools got updated to the latest git or bleeding edge. This would include DXVK, VKD3D, and Wine. Upstream Proton changes have also been imported.

See the patch notes and download the release on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Ubisoft

Weekly News Recap (Steam in Tesla, The Verge Interview with Valve, Slippi Ranked)

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 17:24:55 -0500

Steam Deck

The Verge did an interesting interview with Pierre-Loup Griffais and Lawrence Yang regarding Steam Deck 2, Steam Controller 2, and their thoughts on the 6800U
Crisis Core remake works great
Tuesday’s client update (beta) fixes OSK on game exit and adds support for the Armor-X Pro attachment
Wednesday’s client update (beta) adds better UI scaling at higher resolutions and adds Xbox Elite/Switch Pro layout preview pages
Thursday’s client update (beta) fixes gamepad focus issue on the Steam store, adds minor fixes to login UI layout
SteamOS 3.4 gets a “Tamed Keys” update that fixes the OSK crashing the graphics driver in Desktop Mode when it’s dismissed. 3.4 also got a Death Stranding map fix, and stable 3.3 gets a hotfix “to enable compatibility with future input firmware”

Hardware

Phoronix does an overview of the newly released RX 7900 XT/XTX cards (lucky bastard!). Seems like it does far better than the RTX 3090
Tesla model S and X cars get Steam support

Software Updates

Slippi 3.0.0 gets ranked matchmaking!
Kernel 6.1 adds Rust infrastructure, faster ext4 and btrfs, better support for Nintendo knockoff gamepads
VKD3D-Proton 2.8 further reduces CPU overhead, and you should be able to run The Witcher 3 in DX12, with a few asterisks
Proton gets a hotfix for The Witcher 3’s DX12 update
Bottles 2022.12.14 supports multiple launch arguments, gets a revamped library page
Heroic Games Launcher 2.5.2 adds framerate limiter option, Arm64 Mac OS support
Cemu 2.0-21 gets Vulkan on Wayland support

Other

Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is a great Metroidvania
looks like Wayland with Wine is getting better and better
Epic Games is removing a few classic titles starting January 24th

Cover image credit: Pierre-Loup Griffais

Valve Doesn't Consider the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U As a Competitor to the Steam Deck (Plus Steam Controller 2 and Steam Deck 2 Plans)

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 00:55:09 -0500

The Verge recently conducted an interview with Valve’s Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais – arguably the two most vocal employees about the company’s handheld device that is the Steam Deck. I wanted to mention it because there was an interesting tidbit regarding AMD’s Ryzen 7 6800U APU, which is currently shipping in devices like the AOKZOE and the OneXPlayer Mini handhelds.

As I had alluded to in my Aya Neo 2 post, the 6800U is using Zen 3, RDNA 2 680M graphics, eight cores, and can clock up to 4.7 GHz. In other words, it has power that rivals that of the Deck’s Van Gogh semi-custom APU; perhaps even a little more powerful. But that doesn’t phase Valve. Griffais said in the interview:

The performance level you get between 8 and 12 watts, which is kind of the sweet spot in terms of efficiency… I don’t think you’ll see off-the-shelf offerings based on mainline notebook product lines significantly outperforming that in maybe a few generations.

The 6800U has a power draw of 40 W. The Deck’s APU is 29 W. A handheld would need an even bigger battery than the Deck’s already massive one to get more than an hour of playtime. The Aya Neo 2 is 10 Wh higher than the Deck’s 40 Wh battery, but still, that’s only giving an extra 10 minutes or so of playtime. You’d end up having a handheld that’s three inches thick and a good five pounds in weight to get any decent battery life.

Matter of fact, instead of seeing other companies as rivals, Valve actually wants to work with other PC manufacturers “to make sure that, if they want to use SteamOS or offer a SteamOS-based alternative, that can be done.”

That’s all I had really wanted to mention from that interview, but here’s some more notes from the interview (basically the TL;DR of it):

Update Cycle

updates will be pushed “as long as there’s people playing” (i.e. the Deck won’t ever become “stable”)
Valve is moving to a slower, monthly cadence for stable updates in order to prevent bugs from being shipped to said branch
updates are trying to be more “painless” by having them download in the background and applying them on restart

Hardware

new hardware revisions will allow the Deck’s battery to be more easily replaced by changing the “geometry of the adhesive”
Delta fans now have “an engineered foam solution to reduce fan noise”
in a future model, Valve would like to look at screen and battery life improvements, but as far as performance they’re currently interested in keeping “one performance level” until there is “significant gain” to be had
if your MicroSD gets destroyed somehow from being written too much, you can still send your card over to Valve for inspection. Most of these issues should have been solved though with the quick format feature rather than full
it took two years to make the final Steam Deck product that we see today

SteamOS

Valve is still working on SteamOS 3 so third-party manufacturers can make their own handheld and dedicated SteamOS machines with it

Dynamic Cloud Sync

dynamic cloud sync support is up to the game developer, not Valve

Future Plans

an update for balancing audio between different applications on the Deck should be coming out “at some point”
Bluetooth mic support is being looked into, as well as profile/codec selection
you may be able to share your per-game power profiles with the community in the future
mobile games that are touch-only could be coming to the Deck
anti-cheat support is still being worked on, including support for Halo: MCC and Fall Guys

Other

Valve is paying over 100 developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and Vulkan
Steam Controller 2 is planned, but we don’t know when or how
Valve has “spent years” working on their own Vulkan GFX drivers to make specific titles like Elden Ring, RDR2, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, etc. work
Valve is keeping their lips sealed regarding how many Decks have been sold

Frontier Hunter: Erza's Wheel of Fortune - An Excellent Metroidvania

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 12:52:12 -0500

Aside from the corny artwork, Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is a great example of how a Metroidvania should get done right. It combines the 2D side-scrolling of both the Metroid series and the Castlevania series, and incorporates a lot of fighting elements as well. Furthermore, there’s some RPG at play here, as your character’s stats will increase after gaining enough experience from defeating monsters.

Frontier Hunter is the successor to Tower Hunter: Erza’s Trial. The developer and publisher behind both titles is named Icesitruuna Studio, a four-person development team from Chongqing, Southwest China.

I might as well mention with the anime, 2.5D-style graphics that Frontier Hunter is basically the Metroidvania equivalent of Genshin Impact. Short skirts, little bit of cleavage shown here and there. You can tell from their artwork that they’re trying to appeal to horny teenagers. But you can put that aside, because Frontier Hunter is a really good game otherwise. And the game isn’t even the fully-fleshed project yet; it’s in early access!

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You start off with Erza, a streamer who happens to have a talking hairpin. Her speciality is the katana, the rapier, and the spear. Later on in her journey, she gets allies: a chick with some heavy boots and can shoot rockets with a bazooka, and a guy with a gas mask who wields dual-blades and can dance pretty well. You can switch between each character at any given moment, and you can even call them in for assist (although I forgot the button combination that’s needed for this).

Scattered throughout the game are cutscenes. These cutscenes are normally triggered before or after a boss fight, or when a certain section on the map has been reached. The characters speak Japanese, but English subtitles are available.

Game is advertised as lasting 10 hours. I’ve put in close to seven so far. And I’ve really been enjoying the game well throughout the time I’ve been playing it. Not only is it a Metroidvania/RPG hybrid, but there’s plenty of combat, and the game practically feels like a fighting game with the button combinations needed to execute special moves. For example, quarter-circle forward and pressing the appropriate button with Erza’s rapier will cause her to spin the blade around in a circle, then finish off with a powerful stab. She can also unleash her ultimate move with enough MP and “rage points” built up, causing her to do a kickflip that will freeze enemies in their path. These sort of skills can be unlocked by opening one of the various chests hidden throughout the game and obtaining the necessary scroll.

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Characters can jump and dodge to avoid enemy attacks. Dodging also acts as a dash, so it’s useful for quickly moving across a level.

Magic can be used in addition to special moves. Both attack types consume the characters MP gauge. Characters can shoot fire, lightning, ice, and other status elements. MP is gradually restored over time, but can be replenished more quickly by using the apppropriate item. I feel like the special moves should have had their own gauge rather than being combined with the MP gauge.

In addition to plenty of enemies, there’s plenty of bosses too. Decent bosses that are definitely going to offer a challenge, especially if you’re not properly equipped. You can craft dishes prior to the boss fight (or at any time when you’re at a save station) to give your characters a temporary boost in attack, defense, speed, etc. so long as you have the necessary ingredients. Ingredients can be obtained from the plants on the map.

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Different types of weapons can be unlocked or upgraded. The same goes with armor and accessories. Each weapon, armor, or accessory offers different benefits and stat boosts, depending on their rarity. Equipment can be further upgraded with the use of Magic Cores, which can be obtained by defeating certain monsters. You can also customize how your characters look with different outfits, hair styles, and hair colors.

One flaw that I noticed is that during cutscenes, or when a character is speaking, sometimes the subtitle text gets cut off. I’m sure it won’t be long before this gets fixed. Another quirk is enemies respawn every time you enter a room. It’s a bit of a nuisance; this could get toned down a little bit, like have a cooldown timer before they respawn.

How Does it Steam Deck?

Very well. This should be a Steam Deck Verified title. Runs out of the gate with GE-Proton7-42. You may need to adjust the resolution and window mode in the Settings menu, since the game might not properly fit on the screen at first. You can literally kick the TDP down to 5 W and get 30 FPS on Ultra settings, with the resolution set to 1024 x 576. You might even be able to get away with 40 FPS at this TDP limit, depending on where you are in the game and how many enemies are on screen. You might want to kick it up to 6 W though.

For 60 FPS, set the TDP to 7. I’m not kidding you, it’s mostly 60 FPS well throughout the time I tested at this limit (again, so long as the resolution is set to 1024 x 576. It’s the lowest resolution you can get). May need to bump it to 8 W at times.

Average battery consumption between 30, 40, and 60 FPS was the following:

30 FPS: 10 W
40 FPS: 12 W
60 FPS: 15 W

So, at 30 FPS you should be getting at least four hours of game time. At 60, about two-and-a-half.

Great Game to Pick Up if You Like Metroidvanias and RPGs

As I’ve already said, Frontier Hunter is a great game. I’ve had a lot of fun kicking ass with a short-skirted, bazooka-wielding chick and blowing flies to smitherines with rockets. Or kicking a dragon to its defeat. Or slicing a scorpion boss with twin blades. All the while getting leveled up with better stats, better equipment, and more battle skills. And there’s plenty to explore, plenty of chests to unlock, plenty of weapon and armor upgrading, plenty of lore to catch up on with the cutscenes.

Honestly, this is a great example of how an early access game should look. I can’t wait for more updates; it’s only going to get better over time. I may even write another review after I finish the game and it reaches its 1.0 release. It’s expected to be in early access for “about 12 months.” Apparently the plot story “is only roughly 30% of the full version.”

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TL;DR

The good:

plenty of enemies and boss fights
entertaining gameplay, with RPG elements to mix
tons of customizable elements, such as armor, weapon type, accessories, Magic Cores, etc.
lots of things to explore and unlock

The not-so-good:

corny artwork
voices aren’t available in English
subtitle text is sometimes cut off
enemies respawn every time you enter a room

Game is available on Steam for $20.

Review key provided by Terminals.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Gamepad Focus Issue in Steam Store, Minor Layout Fixes to Login UI (Plus SteamOS Preview Update for OSK Graphics Driver Crash)

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 23:59:29 -0500

More, upon more, upon more fixes for the Steam Deck. This time around, the Steam store should no longer have any gamepad focus issues, and footer buttons should properly be displayed. In Desktop Mode, the login interface got some minor layout fixes. It shouldn’t stretch past the bottom of the window. Context menus should now work after closing the Update news dialog. Subbed workshop items should properly display now when “there were thousands of them.”

The Steam controller got a fix where the joystick had “unintended input” while using Steam button chords.

On top of this, if you’re on the preview branch, SteamOS 3.4 got a “Tamed Keys” update. Dismissing the OSK should no longer crash the graphics driver in Desktop Mode.

See the patch notes on Steam.

VKD3D-Proton 2.8 Reduces CPU Overhead, Adds Last-Minute Fixes for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Upgrade

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 14:28:51 -0500

VKD3D-Proton – the layer responsible for translating DX12 calls to Vulkan, and an essential part of Proton – version 2.8 just released, and “rolls up some significant new developments before the holidays.”

First of all, 2.8 adds support for the VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer extension. This “removes a ton of CPU overhead.” This will particularly benefit desktop users who are on NVIDIA, Intel, Turnip, and “other AMD driver implementations” that are not pertaining to the Steam Deck. RADV and Steam Deck already has “most of this in place.” Also, we have some slight GPU bound performance increases “since we can also remove some shader code that was required to workaround lack of descriptor buffers.”

Note that VK_KHR_buffer_device_address and VK_KHR_push_descriptor will be required in order to take advantage of the “descriptor buffers.” However, these features “are widely supported already”; if you could use 2.7, you should be able to use 2.8 as well without issue.

Second, support for host accessible images has been re-written from scratch. This will support “more implementations and edge cases without a lot of per-application hacks and workarounds.” Basically, Guardians of the Galaxy should run “well” on NVIDIA with this re-write.

Third, the “swap chain” has also been re-written. This should allow for reduced CPU overhead, as mentioned earlier, fixes a “spurious hang” in Hitman III, and some other features that are over my head, so I won’t even bother explaining them. A note for those of you on the NVIDIA 525.x driver:

A driver crash was observed on NVIDIA 525.x drivers when running in some PRIME configurations. For now, we disable use of present_wait on these drivers.

Image credit: Eidos-Montreal/Square Enix

Fourth, there are fixes and workarounds for various games. GPU hangs in Spiderman Remastered: Miles Morales and Age of Empires IV have been worked around or fixed. On RADV, a rendering bug in Borderlands 3 was fixed regarding the gun damage. Intel Arc actually got some love in this update as well – RE: Village should now boot on Arc. Minor issues in mesh shader implementation have been fixed. Resizable BAR has been re-factored: GPUs with 4 GB of VRAM or less won’t use it, which can “avoid some out-of-memory situations.”

Ah, that Witcher 3 DX12 upgrade, which has been causing issues for many. Last-minute “frenzied fixes” have made it in. On RADV, all features albeit RT (ray-tracing?) should work. On NVIDIA, hairworks is known to crash, so disable it for now. Furthermore, while some RT effects work on the latter card, make sure AO is disabled, since it apparently crashes the GPU.

Some other less significant changes made it in as well. A regression for Gears 5 that caused the game to lockup on boot has been fixed.

TL;DR

reduced CPU overhead (though this is mostly for desktop users since the Deck already had this in place)
small GPU-bound performance improvements
Guardians of the Galaxy should run well on NVIDIA with the “host accessible images” re-write
fixes and workarounds added for Hitman III, Spiderman Remastered: Miles Morales, Age of Empires IV, and Borderlands 3 (gun damage rendering bug)
RE: Village should now boot on Arc
Resizable BAR is no longer used on GPUs < = 4 GB VRAM to prevent out-of-memory issues
minor mesh shader implementation fixes
last-minute fixes for The Witcher 3 DX12 upgrade; should mostly work on RADV without RT. NVIDIA needs AO and hairworks disabled
Gears 5 lockup on boot regression fixed

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Insomniac Games/PlayStation

Steam Deck Client Beta Adds Better UI Scaling in Higher Resolutions, Xbox Elite/Switch Pro Layout Preview Pages (Plus SteamOS Update and Proton Hotfix for The Witcher 3)

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 22:27:38 -0500

More fixes in yesterday’s Deck client update (beta). Xbox Elite and Switch Pro layout preview pages have been added, Desktop Mode got plenty of fixes, and there’s now an option to launch the new Big Picture Mode in windowed mode. Full patch notes are as follows:

General

Fixed issue where a browser opened by a game was sticking around after closing the overlay
Fixed launch options dialog not closing when cancelling game launch
Various fixes to make the UI scale better in higher resolutions
Fixed issue where the virtual keyboard would continuously be made visible after exiting a game
Added option to start in windowed mode under Settings => Display => Big Picture Mode => Windowed

Desktop Mode

Fixed several issues related to popup dialogs being sized incorrectly
Fixed issue where game hover UI would sometimes get stuck in the upper left corner of the UI
Fixed sizing of app details DLC hover
Fixed regression where clicking on DLC & “view all” in the dlc rollup not navigate to the store
Fixed “Move” and “Uninstall” not working in content management UI.

Steam Input

Added direct navigation to controller inputs and modes from the preview screen
Fixed the Xbox preview page layout having some incorrect items and missing others
Added a specific Xbox Elite layout preview page
Added a specific Switch Pro layout preview page

On top of this, both the stable and preview branches got a SteamOS update. Stable 3.3 got a hotfix “to enable compatibility with future input firmware.” Preview 3.4 fixes a graphics driver crash “when interacting with the map in Death Stranding Director’s Cut.” Finally, a Proton hotfix just went out for the DX12 update of The Witcher 3 “and it should run on Deck without manual steps now.”

Heroic Games Launcher 2.5.2 Gets Another Hotfix, Adds Option for DXVK Limit FPS, Arm64 Support for Mac OS

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 09:16:05 -0500

Though 2.5.2 might be labeled as a hotfix, it got a few features as well. Arm64 builds are now available for M1/M2 Macs. The Linux version adds support for a DXVK limit FPS option. DXVK installation has been fixed, the Wine status should now be properly updated after install or uninstall, and some fixes have been added to the UI and GOG saves.

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Cemu 2.0-21 Gets Vulkan on Wayland Support, AppImage Fixes

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 09:03:08 -0500

Cemu got a pretty sweet update: it now supports Vulkan for Wayland. The AppImage got “minor” fixes; it fixes an incorrect recursive copy and adds a metainfo file. Screenshots should now work across all three operating systems. Some other commits made it in:

fix MSVC workflow
automatically scale imgui text based on display pixel density
correctly create screenshot directory if it does not exist, and better screenshot error handling
PPCAssembler: Fix incorrect cast sign of branch distance calculate
make codebase more CPU-agnostic + MacOS disclaimer
Linux/MacOS: Use faster clock_gettime() for tick_cached()
add check for backwards delete
fix SDL controller reversed y axis in UI

See the commit history for more details.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes OSK On Game Exit, Adds Support for Armor-X Pro Gamepad

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 22:26:54 -0500

Yet another update slipped my mind. This came out yesterday. The Armor-X Pro pad in PS4 mode is now supported, and several fixes have made it in on desktop and in general. Patch notes are as follows:

General

Fixed keyboard re-opening incorrectly on game exit
Added support for the Armor-X Pro gamepad in PS4 mode
Fixed long delay at startup when the Razer Huntsman Elite keyboard is plugged in
Fixed the Logitech G29 controller showing up as a gamepad instead of a wheel

Desktop Mode

Fixed overlay scaling when resizing game window in new Big Picture Mode
Fixed crash when taking screenshots through the overlay

Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion: Steam Deck Report

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 16:03:44 -0500

Well well well…the 15-year-old game gets a new makeover. Loved the original back on the PSP. In fact, my older brother at the time took over my PSP and bought the game just so he could play it. Despite it not being as full-fledged of a remake as Final Fantasy VII, I still welcome it, as it’s a really good game.

In a nutshell, the Crisis Core remake has been ported to Unreal Engine and has the following advantages over the vanilla PSP version, besides the obvious graphics upgrade:

fully-voiced cutscenes (even though many of the original actors got replaced with different ones)
more intuitive controls
up to 120 FPS, in contrast to the 30 FPS cap on the original
skippable cutscenes!

Honestly, other than that, there’s not much else. The animations and combat mechanics are nearly identical. Even the traditional flip phones are still used – I was expecting them to have smartphones at this point. The controls are going to take a little more adjustment if you played the original. For instance, by default Zack attacks with the X button on Deck. On PSP, it was Cross. Dodging is done with the A button on Deck; Square on PSP. Customizing the controls is possible, however.

Magic attacks can be deployed more quickly now by holding the Left Shoulder and pressing one of the face buttons. On the original, you had to cycle between the commands by pressing L or R, then pressing Cross. Also, DMW now has a “reserve”; special attacks can be used at any time by pressing the appropriate button, after it’s been unlocked, rather than having them executed automatically.

But on to the Deck report. It runs great. Matter of fact, with GE-Proton7-42, I can get away with 7 or 8 W TDP and get mostly 60 FPS on High graphics settings, so long as the resolution is set to 1024 x 576. Speaking of resolution, only two are available in fullscreen and virtual fullscreen: 1280 x 800 and 640 x 400. But if you change it to windowed mode, a lot more resolutions are available. 1024 x 576 still looks decent while taking advantage of FSR.

Average power consumed during my testing – most of which was at 60 FPS – is about 15 W. So you should expect at least two-and-a-half hours of gameplay time. You can set the refresh rate to 40 Hz and clock the TDP down to 5 W. Don’t set the TDP any lower than that; even 30 FPS can’t be reached at 4 W. I’ll need to do some more testing to know how long the Deck lasts at 30 and 40 FPS.

I have a video if you’d like to see the game in action. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion is available on Steam for $50.

Slippi Ranked is Finally Here!

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:42:21 -0500

Slippi version 3.0.0 is out. This release has early support for ranked matchmaking! For the time being, ranked matchmaking requires a subscription, the minimum of which will set you back at $5/month. Manage your Slippi account and choose your subscription tier. After that you’ll need to agree to the Terms of Service with the Slippi Launcher. Ranked matchmaking will be free after it comes out of early access. You can also check the leaderboards.

When you face an opponent in ranked, it’s the best of three. You’ll automatically disconnect from them after two wins. It’s kind of weird how the stage selection process works, depending on whether you win or you lose, but I do have a video if you’d like to see ranked in action.

The Windows version of Slippi also got signed for “fewer antivirus freakouts.” Good thing we’re on Linux.

See the patch notes and download Slippi 3.0.0 on GitHub.

Kernel 6.1 Released, Implements Rust Foundation, Significantly Faster Btrfs, Improved Third-Party Nintendo Gamepad Support

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 22:21:42 -0500

After a week of being held back due to so many changes coming in, kernel 6.1 has now officially become stable and is the next LTS release. It’s quite an exciting release! First of all, we have better support for knockoff Nintendo controllers. Second, Rust has finally made its way in, although we’re not really going to see anything significant as only the infrastructure has been re-written so far. Kernel 6.2 will gradually see more Rust code implemented. One step at a time. Third, both ext4 and Btrfs got performance improvements, especially with the latter. But there’s so much more.

Here’s some of the highlights:

initial Rust infrastructure (no drivers or kernel subsystem abstractions are currently using it)
support for more ARM devices, including Sony Xperia 1 IV, Samsung Galaxy E5/E7/Grand Max, and PinePhone Pro
a few fixes for AMD Rembrandt laptops
more Intel Meteor Lake support
various improvements to Intel Arc graphics and firmware handling
proper mesh shader support for the RADV Vulkan driver
physical CD-ROM support on RISC-V systems
Ext4 bug fixes and performance improvements
huge Btrfs performance improvements (supposedly it’s twice as fast)
enables HID++ for all Logitech Bluetooth devices, as well as the auto-detection of high resolution scrolling support
initial groundwork for Wi-Fi 7 support (802.11be)
PinePhone/PinePhone Pro keyboard case driver input support
laptop improvements “by making AMD PCs smarter, quieter, [and more] power efficient by adapting to user behavior and environment.”
Intel Meteor Lake Thunderbolt support
better support for third-party Nintendo controllers (ensure “sane” calibration values)
and much, much more

Big thanks to Phoronix to reporting on all of the changes going on with kernel 6.1. You can see their overview of what’s new with this kernel to see more changes.

Kernel 6.2 is going to be an even more interesting release, with fully supported ARC graphics, 4K support for Raspberry Pi, more Rust code, official DS4 support, and tons of more features. We should be expecting that sometime in February-March.

Weekly News Recap (Clone Hero, Game Awards 2022, Launch Heavy)

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 16:26:00 -0500

Steam Deck

Thursday’s Deck client update (beta) fixes the “exiting forever” state and allows user to use a default option when launching a game
Friday’s Deck client update (beta) fixes DLC on hover, properly enables gyro for Switch gamepads
got a nice bag by WaterField Designs, but it’s terribly expensive
increase performance with CryoUtilities
GOL has a guide on how to fix Grounded

Native Games

Earth of Oryn, an upcoming strategy game, looks like it will get native Linux support when it hits the $40k goal on Kickstarter

Hardware

System76 has the Launch Heavy should you need a fully customizable keyboard. GOL has a review

Software Updates

Proton Experimental 12.8.2022 adds support for eXceed - Gun Bullet Children and properly updates EA app
Proton 7.0-5 adds support for 14 new titles and brings many bug fixes
Heroic Games Launcher 2.5.1 gets a hotfix
Blender 3.4 gets Wayland support
PolyChromatic (graphical frontend for OpenRazer) 0.8.0 gets new DPI stage editor
Wine 8.0-rc1 fixes 52 bugs, improved joystick control panel

Guides

guide is available for getting the best Sackboy experience
you can overclock your GameCube controller for less input lag

Other

Portal gets RTX makeover
NVIDIA is now the scalper
if for some reason you wanted an alternative to ProtonUp-Qt, you could try the new ProtonPlus
need a Guitar Hero fix? Try Clone Hero
EA open-sources the Fonttik app
GOL has a roundup of this year’s Game Awards

Cover image credit: passlkings

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes DLC Hover, Gyro for Switch Controllers

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 22:55:02 -0500

Small update for the Deck is all fixes. Patch notes are as follows:

General

Fixed the new Big Picture Mode overlay being incorrect[ly] sized when the monitor is set to display scaling other than 100%
Fixed DLC hover on game details page being cropped

Steam Input

Fixed an issue with gamepad navigation in the Steam Deck haptics calibration screen
Fixed an issue w/ enabling Gyro for Switch controllers

If you’re on desktop and you’re opted into the beta branch for Steam, there is a similar update available, with the addition of a MacOS bug being fixed in regards to the close button on the Steam login window.

The Most Expensive Steam Deck Bag I've Ever Received

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 11:21:06 -0500

Steam Deck accessories…they abound. But you’re going to need something to carry them all in, right? Introducing the complete case for Steam Deck by WaterField Designs. For once, we actually have a product that isn’t made in China. It’s made in the heart San Francisco, California, USA.

It basically looks and behaves similar to a messenger bag, but tailor-made for the Deck. With it, you can put in:

your Deck, obviously
a dock
two AC adapters
gamepad
75% keyboard
mouse
an assortment of cables, from USB-C to HDMI, etc.
power banks
ear buds
MicroSD cards

With all that can be put in it, it’s no wonder why it’s called the “Complete” case. Dimensions and weight are as follows:

13.25" x 4.5" x 11.5"; 1.5 lb.
33.65 cm x 11.43 cm x 29.21 cm; 0.68 kg

I love that “personal touch” whenever I get a review unit. The package shipped in a barebones FedEx box with a plastic bag over the case, but along with it came a note. They even included my website name:

Hi Mark, we’re excited for your detailed review of the new WaterField Complete Case for Steam Deck on Linux Gaming Central. Feel free to reach out with any questions you may have about materials, design, functionality, etc…we hope you enjoy the new case. I’m here to help however I can!

The Inside Scoop

A nice feature is the bag has a dedicated pouch where the Deck goes in. You can then secure the Deck in place with the velcro strap that goes over it. Below this pouch is three more pouches. The one in the middle is the widest of the three, and this is where you could put a controller in. Can confirm I can put my DualSense in there without a hitch. If your gamepad isn’t wireless, or it doesn’t have a detachable cable, you can hide the mess of cords behind the controller; there’s room for it. Which is quite nice for my GameCube controller, which has a ten-foot cable.

To the left and right of the controller pouch are more narrow pouches. This is where you could put the official AC adapter in one pocket, and a pair of wireless earbuds in the other. Pretty much any accessory that’s less than three inches wide and four inches tall.

On the opposite side, inside the bag, are two more pouches. Though I guess I could technically say three, since the one at the top is separated with a strap. This top pouch is where you can fit an external mouse (provided that it’s wireless; you’re going to have an ugly cob of webs inside your case if it’s not since the cables won’t really have anywhere to go) and a dock. The strap in the middle segregates the pouch into two sections. Not really sure what the intention of that was; perhaps it’s there to make access to your accessories more tidy. If for some reason you didn’t want it I guess you could just cut the strap off.

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Below the top pouch is another one. Here’s where you can put a keyboard. Make sure it’s 75% or less. Ideally you’d want the keyboard to be wireless, or at least have a detachable cable, but similar to the controller pouch, there’s plenty of room to hide cables. My Launch keyboard fits just fine in here. I can also technically put in the DeckTop keyboard, but it’s very annoying since I can’t detach the clamp. The clamp takes up more space inside the case than I would like, but I can get away with it and still close the case just fine, even if it might be a little…thick.

Everything inside the case is made of fleece. And just a word of advice: put the controller, keyboard, ear buds, and charger in first before inserting the Deck and mouse/dock. If you do this the other way around, you’re going to have a hard time adding the accessories in the bottom of the bag. So…don’t do what I did in the video.

The Outside

On the front of the case, underneath the flap, is a zipper compartment. Plenty of space in here to put in cables, power banks, etc. There’s even a dedicated section towards the top where you can slide in four MicroSD cards. Super convenient, and you’ll never lose track of them!

The carrying handle and flap is made of leather. You can either choose chocolate-colored leather or black. I went with black, since it makes the coloring scheme more “consistent” across the rest of the bag. The product description page mentions this leather is “full-grain,” meaning it’s the “toughest part of the hide with the tightest grain.” So after ten years of use, it will evidently develop a “patina.” Not really sure why only part of the flap is made with leather. A bit of a confusing design choice if you ask me, since everything else about the bag is made of “ballistic nylon.”

This nylon is made of the same material that bullet-proof vests are made of. WaterField uses a custom-made, 1050 denier nylon “that’s abrasion- and water-resistant with colorfastness that withstands prolonged sun exposure.”

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The side pouches can be tucked in to protect the bag from weather elements. A nice feature is the bag closes with a magnetic buckle. It makes closing and opening up the bag easy. Just slide the buckle sideways to open it, then get them close together to close.

Other than that, that’s pretty much it for the outside. No pouches on the back, or on the sides. I feel like WaterField could have made better use of the outside of the bag with additional pouches here.

Strap

On the back are two contact points where you can connect the strap. You can use pretty much any strap if you wanted to, if they have detachable clips, but they do provide one at the base $240 price. You can get an upgraded strap for an additional $24. When I told WaterField that I didn’t get the strap along with the bag, they were quick to address this and sent the strap out. Got it just a few days later. Matter of fact, I got two straps for some reason. I guess I’ll have an extra strap should the first one ever break.

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In any event, this strap is definitely useful to have. You can clip it on and carry the bag around with you around your shoulder, freeing your hands up. Pretty convenient. Only complaint that I have is a small strip of leather could have been added somewhere on it. I’ve slugged this around my shoulder and have noticed a bit of discomfort after prolonged use. Adding a piece of leather would definitely help alleviate shoulder pain.

A Competitor: A $60 Messenger Bag

A few years ago I bought a messenger bag on Amazon. At the time, it was $50. Now it’s $60. Even so, that’s a quarter of the price of the Complete Steam Deck case. Leather handle, leather strip on the strap for comfort. Pouches on the front, side, and back on the outside. A zipper to close the top. A pouch on the inside where I can hold my Deck, plus a few more pouches. Granted, not as many pouches on the inside, and no dedicated section for MicroSD cards, but the price is nothing compared to the eye-watering $240 price tag the WaterField bag carries.

So I’m really wondering what justifies the $240. Is it just because it’s made in America, versus the Amazon bag made in China? WaterField says their “full-grain” leather is the most expensive type of leather, but there’s not really much on here – just the front flap and the handle. Yeah, frankly the $240 price tag is ridiculous.

A Nice Accessory…if You Can Afford It

Outside of how incredibly expensive the Complete Steam Deck case is, I have to admit I like it a lot. It holds pretty much everything you could possibly need for your Deck: a charger, a pair of ear buds, power banks, cables, docks, controllers, mice, MicroSD cards, keyboards, you name it. You’ll certainly have everything you need, all packed into one tidy form factor. Plus, I like how it doesn’t have any sort of Steam Deck branding. So you could carry this around and not look like a nerd. And you could keep this in your car – if someone were to take a look at it through the glass window, they’ll be like, “Oh, that’s just a bag for work.” Whereas if the bag looked like the vanilla Steam Deck case, or the JSAUX case, people would be more interested and be like, “Dude, I need to break into this guy’s car and get it!” Heh, I know, that’s a really weird situation. But it could happen!

I feel like WaterField could have made more use of the outside though by adding pouches to the sides and the back. Would allow even more accessories to be carried. Also the strap could have benefited with a leather strip for ease of comfort while traveling.

If you can afford it, go for it. Otherwise, there are other bags that are similar – even though they might not be tailored to the Deck specifically – for a significantly lower cost. The bag I mentioned earlier is a prime example. On the other hand, if you don’t need something as big as this, but still want something to protect your Deck, WaterField has those options, but they’re still expensive.

TL;DR

The good:

not made in China
fits just about everything you would use in conjunction with a Deck, such as a dock, charger, mouse, etc.
plenty of room on the inside to hide cables should any of your accessories not be wireless
“full-grain” leather for the handle and opening flap
velcro strap keeps the Deck secure in place
magnetic buckle for ease of opening/closing

The not-so-good:

outrageously expensive, with alternatives that are far cheaper
no pouches for the sides and back on the outside of the case
can get uncomfortable to carry around after a while with the strap

The Complete Steam Deck case can be bought on sfbags.com. Price starts at $239. You can select either chocolate or black leather.

Review unit sent courtesy of WaterField Designs. Opinions are of my own.

Steam Deck Client (Beta) Fixes 'Exiting Forever' State when Closing Games, Adds Checkbox to Set Default Choice when Launching a Game

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 23:32:00 -0500

Today’s Deck client update (beta) continues further optimization for loading times for users with big game libraries. A case has been fixed “where the UI would think that a game is running when it’s not, leaving games in an ’exiting forever’ state.” Desktop Mode got some love as well, particularly with the New Big Picture Mode. A checkbox can now be checked off when launching a game that has a selection, making that choice the default selection. You can see the cover photo as an example of what I’m talking about. Some fixes have made it in as well, including UI scaling issues in the new BPM overlay when running games in high resolution.

Full patch notes are as follows:

General

Further optimizations to load times for users with large game libraries
Fixed a case where the UI would think that a game is running when it’s not, leaving games in an “exiting forever’ state
Fixed a case where disconnecting a controller while navigating would not cancel repeating movements

Desktop Mode

Replaced launch option dialog with new UI that includes a checkbox to remember the user’s selection. Added a dropdown in game properties to change that selection after it is remembered.
Fixed intermittent browser crash when closing Update news dialog
Fixed a rare crash exiting New Big Picture Mode
Use the New Big Picture Mode standalone keyboard if Steam is configured to run in new BPM (e.g. -newbigpicture was specified on the command-line)
Fix some UI scaling issues in the New Big Picture Mode overlay when running in games in high resolution

Proton Experimental Adds Support for eXceed - Gun Bullet Children, EA Desktop Should Now Properly Update

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 22:29:52 -0500

Small update for Proton Experimental is mostly focused on bug fixes. Though we did get a new game to play: eXceed - Gun Bullet Children. The EA Desktop (the EA App? I’m not sure) should now properly update, ensuring that games can now run, though this may require a few game restarts. Forza Horizon (probably both 4 and 5?) should now have the default mapping with the Logitech G920 wheel. And a regression was fixed for the Star Wars: The Old Republic launcher “failing to pen.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Flat Software/Nyu Media

System76 Launches the Launch Heavy Keyboard

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 10:39:42 -0500

If you’re looking for a keyboard, System76 has every option out there. Whether you want the standard Launch, the Launch Lite for a more affordable keyboard without the USB hub, or want to have as many features as possible with the new Launch Heavy, your bases have been covered.

Apparently the Launch Heavy has been around for the past few weeks, even though the embargo lift date wasn’t until today. At any rate, here’s the features it has over the standard launch:

it includes a NumPad
it has more keycaps for physical keyboard customization, such as the S76 and Pop!_OS logos

Not sure if that justifies the extra $100 it tacks over the original Launch, which is already at $200. But it’s an option if you can afford it.

As with the other Launch keyboards, it’s fully open-source, from the chassis and PCB, to the keyboard configuration software, to the firmware.

Price for the Launch Heavy is $300. Get yours on System76’s website. Trailer is available on YouTube.

Portal with RTX Out Now!

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 10:18:17 -0500

Great news, Portal with RTX is out now!

Per the Steam store page description:

Experience the critically acclaimed and award-winning Portal™ reimagined with ray tracing in this free DLC for Portal owners. Start thinking with portals, with RTX on.

I’d love to report how it runs…if I had a RTX GPU. I should have just kept the Thelio as an excuse to try it. If you don’t have a RTX GPU clicking “Play Game” won’t do anything.

But who knows, GamingOnLinux might have a report on it later today or later this week.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure to Optimization (Unlock DLSS for Non-RTX GPUs, Skip Intro Videos, Use Steam Network Services Instead of Epic Online Services)

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:09:43 -0500

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a great game. But unfortunately it’s barred by a few annoyances, such as having to deal with the Epic Games login prompt when launching the game, even if you don’t plan on using online multiplayer, and having to see the intro video every time the game is launched. We can save ourselves some time by fixing both of these. Also, your Deck, or your desktop that doesn’t have a RTX GPU, can make use of FSR 2.1 in replacement of the game’s built-in DLSS feature, providing a ~10% performance boost and having a sharper image quality over FSR 1.0. Let’s get right to it!

Skip Intro Videos

Super easy fix. Go to your game’s installation directory (right-click the game in Steam -> Manage -> Browse local files).

In your file manager, go to GingerBread/Content/Movies/IntroSequence/. Delete everything in there. Now you can save yourself some time when launching the game and go right to the title screen, while also saving 200+ MB of space. Alternatively, you can rename the files if you wish to keep them, but that will be a time-consuming process, since there’s quite a few video files there. If you want to bring the video files back after deletion, you can verify the game files and they will be re-downloaded.

Download the mod from GameBanana. Extract the pak file to GingerBread/Content/Paks/. That’s literally it. You should no longer be asked to log into your Epic Games account upon launch. Furthermore, you can still play online multiplayer with this mod via Steam network services. A caveat that you have to keep in mind, however, is you won’t be able to play with others who own the game on the Epic Games Store.

I tested an online multiplayer session with a friend and I can confirm I don’t need to use EOS to play with him.

Use FSR 2.1 for a Performance Boost

We can use the CyberPunk 2077 DLSS unlocker mod and use it with Sackboy. Keep in mind you’ll need to register for an account with Nexus Mods if you haven’t already and be logged in to download the mod.

After downloading the mod extract nvngx.dll and nvngx.ini from bin/x64/ to GingerBread/Binaries/Win64/. Next, install Protontricks (Flatpak is available for Steam Deck users), run it, choose Sackboy, select the default wineprefix, and run regedit to import EnableSignatureOverride.reg from the mod you had extracted. No need to add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winmm.dll=n,b" %command% for this.

You can check my guide if you need a step-by-step process on how to do this.

Here’s Sackboy without the DLSS unlocker:

And here the game is with it on:

On my desktop I’m seeing a ~10% performance boost.

You have to be careful what version of Proton you use. Proton Experimental and GE-Proton crashed the game when lowering the resolution while in fullscreen. The only version that worked for me was the stable 7.0-5 release.

That’s all, for now. As a side note, I’m really enjoying the game, so stay tuned for a review.

Proton 7.0-5 Has Now Become Stable, Adds Support for 14 New Titles and Tons of Fixes

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 22:25:18 -0500

Congratulations to Valve, and especially CodeWeavers, who have tirelessly put forth the effort to make gaming on Linux and the Steam Deck easier and easier as the weeks and months go by. Proton 7.0-5 went from being a release candidate back in October, to Proton Next a month later, and now we’ve hit the stable release.

What’s changed since Proton Next? Well, nothing, really. All of the same games are playable. The same bug fixes are in as well. Just think of the stable release as being more, well, stable. You could check the GitHub thread for the RC and see whatever other issues got fixed.

As a reminder, the following games are now playable:

Fixes have been added for plenty of games, including Batman: Arkham City, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Return to Monkey Island, VRChat, CoD: Black Ops II, RDR2, Tekken 7, Armello, and plenty of others. HOTAS has been fixed with Elite Dangerous, and GTA V has an improved “situation with not loading textures.”

fix Batman: Arkham City GOTY launching in the background on Steam Deck when set to fullscreen
fix Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered displaying dialog about outdated drivers on AMD systems
fix Final Fantasy IV (3D Remake) having no audio
fix Return to Monkey Island not reacting to mouse clicks after a recent game update
fix upsidedown videos in VRChat and many other games
fix Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies and Multiplayer hanging on exit
fix Bail or Jail crashing when opening the Terms of Serivce
fix Red Dead Redemption 2 crashing after a recent game update
fix Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher functionality after game update
fix cutscene stutter in Disgaea 5
fix Thrustmaster HOTAS having non-functional dial in Elite Dangerous
fix Planet Zoo randomly crashing
fix SCP: Secret Labratory not being playable after a recent game update (again)
fix Tekken 7 crashing at launch
fix Armello hanging on exit
fix Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization freezing after the tutorial
fix Space Engineers intro video not playing correctly
fix Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen videos not playing correctly
improve GTA V situation with not loading textures

Network video support was added for VRChat, and DXVK has been updated to 1.10.3-28-ge3daa699. Note that this release did not upgrade to the newer DXVK 2.0 since that requires newer GPU drivers; Proton 7.0 will continue to use DXVK 1.10.x until the next major release of Proton to maintain compatibility with older GPU drivers.

An update should be available in your Steam client. Simply update Proton (enable “Tools” in the list view in the top-left corner of your library to see it) and it should replace 7.0-4 with 7.0-5. Restart Steam and you should be all set. Note that Proton Next is no longer an available option, as it has been replaced with this stable release.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: People Can Fly/Gearbox

Overclock Your Controller for Less Input Lag

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 11:46:04 -0500

By default, your controller adapter polls at a rate of 125 Hz, or every eight milliseconds. However, by overclocking it, we can increase that rate to nearly 10 times at 1,000 Hz. The result of this overclock, per the document by SSBM_Arte, results in “a much closer experience to console play. It considerably improves the latency stability, which directly impacts execution, and also reduces input lag.”

You might have seen this in action with a mouse. Increasing the poll rate allows for smoother motion and less input latency. We’ll apply these same steps with a GameCube controller.

As people were quick to point out to me on Twitter, third-party controller adapters will not work with overclocking. So I went and got myself a Mayflash adapter. Works like a charm. You can either use this, or the official Wii U GC adapter. The latter has less latency volatility, but they’re expensive and hard to find. Make sure both USB ports are plugged into your desktop.

Is Overclocking Dangerous?

No. Per the document:

“Overclocking” a USB device is specification compliant. USB devices say to the PC “I would like to be polled at least every X ms when I’m in use.” Polling less often than that is not specification compliant…nothing changes inside the device, we’re just polling it faster than it asked for. Operating systems by default poll devices as rarely as they’re allowed to so as to preserve USB bandwidth. Then depending on the philosophy of the OS, the difficulty of explaining to the OS you don’t want to poll as seldom as possible differs.

Linux Desktop

It’s actually quite simple. Hopefully you’ve got some familiarity with the terminal (and pro-tip: pressing TAB while putting in a command or folder path name will auto-complete it, making your life easier). We’ll make use of a kernel module called gcadapter_oc_kmod. Make sure you have linux-headers installed on your system (sounds like a no-brainer, but believe me, I didn’t have the headers when I first ran this script and it wouldn’t run). Then clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/hannesmann/gcadapter-oc-kmod.git

If you’re on Arch, your life has been made simple. Change into the gcadapter-oc-kmod/packaging/arch/ directory, then run makepkg -si. You should be all set. If Dolphin/Slippi was open while you installed the module, restart the emulator and you should see the changes. Polling rate should stay consistent across reboots and kernel updates thanks to the use of DKMS.

On distros outside of Arch, change into the new directory:

cd gcadapter-oc-kmod

Run “make” to build gcadapter_oc.ko:

make

Load the module into the running kernel:

sudo insmod gcadapter_oc.ko

Restart Slippi and you should be good.

In the event you want to revert the poll rate back to 125 Hz, simply run sudo rmmod gcadapter_oc.ko.

Steam Deck

See my updated guide for getting the GCC adapter overclocked on Steam Deck.

Change Polling Rate

You shouldn’t need to do this, but if for some reason setting the adapter to 1,000 Hz causes stutter or dropped inputs, you can reduce the polling rate to a lower value, such as 500 Hz. There’s one of two ways to do this. The first way would be (this needs to be run inside the directory where you built the kernel module; make sure the kernel module has been removed before doing this):

sudo insmod gcadapter_oc.ko rate=X

Change “X” to the polling rate in milliseconds. For example, if you wanted to set the rate to 250 Hz, you would replace “X” with “4” (without quotes). To set it to 500 Hz, you would use “2”. 1,000 Hz would be “1”. You get the idea.

Alternatively, you can do it this way:

sudo su
cd /sys/module/gcadapter_oc/parameters/
echo X > rate

When I run echo 4 > rate and restart Slippi, now my adapter’s polling rate is 250 Hz:

Ports Matter

For some reason, if you connect your GC controller to port 2 in the Mayflash adapter in single player, you’ll get “the best experience.” It’s apparently better than using port 1, although the document doesn’t mention why. I’d love if someone could fill me in on that. Use ports 1 and 2 for doubles.

If you’re using the official adapter, plug a spare controller into port 1, and the one you’re planning on using into port 2. The document notes: “I am dead serious” and they get into why.

If you need more info about overclocking, see the document.

Heroic Games Launcher 2.5.1 Gets Hotfix, MacOS Improvements

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 09:59:15 -0500

Heroic Games Launcher continues to get TLC from its massive 2.5.0 update. The Mac version of the app definitely got some attention here – with the inclusion of Wine, DXVK, and Winetricks support – but the Linux version got some updates as well. It’s mostly fixes. They are as follows:

Fix the issue with the download’s progress going crazy and duplicating the installation/update.
Fix a crash on the Install dialog on some games
Fix sideload games not being added to steam automatically.
Fix Games failing to start when launched from Steam because they have an update
Fix games falling to start when launched from Steam when they had Sync Saves but the path was not defined
Fix Auto detect saves path going on forever. Now it will have a timeout of 15s.
Fix GOG games failing to install due to not supported language error.
Fix a crash that was happening when uninstalling Sideloaded Apps
Fix Login Page container size max Width
Possibly fix the state of the game card not correctly updating. Not showing an update button, for instance.
[Linux/macOS] Fix the windows version of a game version being recognized as native and not showing Wine settings and others.
[macOS] Fixed an issue where the game save path was not correct for native games.
[Windows] Fix an issue where Heroic was crashing when opening the install dialog.
Some other minor fixes and improvements.

Other changes include:

Increased the connectivity check timeout at startup and added a button to ignore the status.
Heroic will clean the cache now after upgrading to a new release since some issues are associated with that after updating.

The Linux version in particular got the following fix: “fix the Windows version of a game version being recognized as native and not showing Wine settings and others.”

Please note that “Heroic will clean the cache now after every update so it can start fresh, but in some cases, you might need to log in again on Epic and GOG, and on Linux or macOS start a new prefix in case the game fails to launch.”

See the full patch notes on GitHub.

Increase Steam Deck Performance with CryoUtilities

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 11:04:37 -0500

There’s an incredible script that allows you to increase the Deck’s performance by modifying the swap file size, changing the swappiness value, and/or enabling TRIM on the SSD. This is all thanks to CryoByte33, a YouTuber who definitely knows his stuff when it comes to the Deck and increasing the performance of it wherever possible.

With his script, you can:

increase or decrease swap file size
change the swappiness (or swap tendancy) value
enable or disable TRIM – basically extends the longevity of your SSD

What are the Benefits of CryoUtilities?

By default, SteamOS uses 1 GB swap, and a value of 100 for swappiness. This means 1) if the Deck runs out of RAM, it only has 1 GB of swap to use, and 2) with a swappiness value of 100, the Deck will always prefer the swap over the physical RAM, giving the device a performance bottleneck since again, it only has 1 GB of swap space.

When we increase the swap file size, and change the swappiness value, we can potentially get FPS boosts depending on the game being played. Sonic Frontiers is an example of a game that plays better with 8 GB swap with a swappiness of 50. My friend Matthew Anderson reported that New World “dramatically benefits” from a 16 GB swap file with swappiness of 1. He mentioned “the game flat out crashes in busy areas without the swap increased from the default 1 GB.” Also apparently there are crashes after trying to login without the swap file increase.

But don’t just take our word for it. CryoByte33 has plenty of videos going over the performance differences with specific games with the default settings, with 4 GB VRAM, with and without the swap file increase/swappiness changed:

You can also check this video out for a detailed overview of what the CryoUtilities script does.

According to the GitHub FAQ, “any game that uses a combined 16 GB for RAM and VRAM will likely benefit from the swap fix.” Even emulating games from later generations like Nintendo Switch, PS3, and Wii U will see performance improvements. Changing the swap file size/tendancy might be reverted on SteamOS updates; it did for me when I updated to SteamOS 3.4. But the changes should survive with Deck client updates.

How to Use

Go to Desktop Mode on your Deck. There’s one of two ways to install. One way is by cloning the script repo:

git clone https://github.com/CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities.git
cd steam-deck-utilities
chmod +x cryo_utilities.sh
./cryo_utilities.sh

Alternatively you can go to the GitHub page, right-click “this link” under the Install section, click “Save As…”, save the file, then run it. This will add the script as a desktop icon that you can easily access, and you’ll also have a update icon and a uninstall icon.

Run it, and you’ll have a nice interface for changing various settings.

First, after the disclaimer window, you’ll be asked what to change the swap size to. Again, by default it’s set to 1 GB. Cryo recommends 16 GB. I’ve been able to safely get away with 8 GB, so if you’re running low on hard drive space, you can use this instead. But you might see even better performance with 16 GB, so go with that if you can.

Give it a few minutes. Next, you’ll be asked what the swap tendancy should be. By default, it should be 100. Cryo recommends setting the value to 1. You could set it to 50 to make the Deck balance the use of swap and RAM. Setting it to 1 will make the Deck always prefer the RAM over the swap. So you may want to experiment with this a little. But set it to 1 for now, per Cryo’s recommendation.

If you’re on the SteamOS 3.4 preview, you won’t need to proceed to the next step, since TRIM is already enabled by default with this build. If you’re using the stable build of SteamOS, I definitely recommend enabling TRIM to extend your SSD’s life span. Again, give it a few minutes. Reboot the Deck and you should be all set.

You might want to increase the UMA frame buffer size to 4 GB in conjunction with this script. To do so, go to your Deck’s BIOS, and increase the UMA frame buffer size from the default 1 GB to 4 GB. As a reminder, to get access to the BIOS, hold the Volume+ button while turning the Deck on. Let go once you hear the chime. Go to “Setup Utility,” then go to “Advanced”. Now that you have more swap space, you won’t have to worry about having less physical RAM with this change.

How to Revert to Default Settings

In the event you don’t like your new settings for some reason, you can always revert back to the default values that SteamOS has set. Run the script again, and set the options to the following:

swap size to 1 GB
swappiness to 100
disable TRIM

Cover image credit: CryoByte33

Scalpers Are Finally Getting the Nail on the Head

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 10:04:53 -0500

Well, this is a relief to see.

Seems like NVIDIA themselves are the scalpers – rather than the ones who greedily buy them in bulk and sell them at three or four times the price – at least when it comes to the 4080/4090. See, the price of the 4080 is so expensive that it hasn’t appealed to that many people. As a result, scalpers who bought these cards, thinking that people were going to be desperate enough to scoop them up, are regretting their purchases. They’ve been forced to sell them at MSRP or even lower.

“Still very hard to get these cards.” Yeah, what a load of BS.

But here’s where it hits them hard: some of these scalpers, depending on where they bought the card, can’t even return it for a refund. Newegg is an example where they’re not taking refunds. Thanks, Newegg.

With AMD’s upcoming 6900 XT/XTX selling at a cheaper price, it makes both NVIDIA and scalpers look even more stupid.

Weekly News Recap (Portal with RTX, ARC A770 Performance, Deck Coming to Asian Markets)

Sun, 04 Dec 2022 22:47:32 -0500

Steam Deck

today’s beta client update fixes store payment methods which require pop-up windows for processing not working
Friday’s SteamOS preview update adds support for the 8BitDo Ultimate Wireless dongle, adds rumble support to built-in HID-Steam controller driver, and fixes USB crash with certain gamepads
Thursday’s stable client update adds tons of bug fixes, and the beta update gets even more
Monday’s beta client update adds bug fixes
looking to mod Sonic Frontiers? Video guide is up
shipping to Asian markets on December 17th
if you need a guide on how to set up streaming with the Deck as host, Gardiner Bryant has a video

News

Portal with RTX launches December 8th
looks like Steam on Linux market share has increased thanks to the Deck

Hardware

the Intel Optane SSD might be worth looking into if you want a drive that’s really fast
Boiling Steam did a rock solid review on the HP Dev One laptop
Phoronix reviews the Intel ARC A750/A770 GPUs. Seems like they compete closely to the 6600

Software Updates

GE-Proton 7-42 fixes a launcher and adds a Protonfix for a few titles
Proton Experimental 12.1.2022 fixes Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Vampire Survivors, and enables hidraw for a few racing wheels/pedals
Heroic Games Launcher gets massive 2.5.0 update, adds download manager, How Long to Beat, and tons of other improvements
NVIDIA driver 525.60.11 adds fix for GNOME and supports dynamic boost on AMD laptops
Mesa 22.3.0 adds a bunch of stuff that’s over my head

Other

I reviewed The Entropy Centre. Great game if you like the Portal series
I interviewed Steam Deck Checker

Cover image credit: Intel

GE-Proton7-42 Fixes Launcher for Secret World: Legends, Adds Protonfix for Skeleton Boomerang and Re-Volt

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 23:11:05 -0500

Today’s update to GE-Proton doesn’t seem too exciting, although we did get a few Protonfixes added for Skeleton Boomerang and Re-Volt. Protonfixes were removed for King of Fighters (no longer needs FPS cap) and Squad (no longer needs EAC workaround). A launcher fix was added for Secret World: Legends.

Aside from that, everything else is updates. Wine staging has been rebased. DXVK-NVAPI, DXVK, VKD3D, and the “media converter” have been updated, although the patch notes don’t mention to what they’ve been updated to (presumably, they’ve all been updated to the latest git). Upstream build changes from Proton Experimental have been pulled in, and Wine has been updated to the “latest Proton Experimental bleeding edge.”

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Craving a Portal Fix? You Might Like The Entropy Centre

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 10:03:06 -0500

Aria wakens in a space station – the Entropy Centre. Right away, she’s got two major issues to deal with:

the planet earth is being destroyed
the Entropy Centre is abandoned, and on the brink of collapse

Fortunately, Aria has the right tool to deal with this kind of situation – a talking gun by the name of ASTRA. Not only does this gun have a personality and can keep Aria some company in the abandoned facility, but she can reverse time. For example, she can repair damaged bridges, restoring them back to their original condition. Pathways that are destroyed can also be reversed and walked on. Will Aria be able to save the earth from total destruction? Will she be able to survive the Entropy Centre with its puzzle chambers and find the truth behind the facility? You’ll have to find out…

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Reversing time or objects is key in this game. Cubes will have to be moved around and placed on switches. But a lot of the time, the movement of these cubes will have to be reversed in time in order to progress in the game. Thus, The Entropy Centre takes a lot of hints from the Portal series, from the puzzle elements, to the atmosphere, to the talking gun that teases Aria along the way. One could in effect say that The Entropy Centre is the spiritual successor to Portal. But in a lot of ways, the game has its own spin on how puzzles get solved. And unlike Chell in Portal, Aria has a voice, and talks back and forth to ASTRA.

I haven’t finished the game, but I’m definitely liking it so far. The puzzles aren’t easy sometimes, but they’re not too difficult either. New elements come into play the further you progress. For instance, some cubes will be able to emit a ray of light that Aria can walk on to cross the other side of a level. Electric fences, when crossed, will remove the time stamp from ASTRA, and she won’t be able to reverse time on any object. Crossing this fence with a cube will also destroy it. Usually, activating a switch will remove the barrier, but this switch will need to be held down with a cube…and then that cube might need to go somewhere else, without Aria getting in physical contact with it. That cube will have to be reversed in time. It’s a puzzle in of itself trying to explain this on paper; you’ll really need to just see the game in motion to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

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As Aria progresses in the Centre, computers will usually accompany each new room. Aria can use these to examine emails that were exchanged between employees who once worked in the facility. It’s definitely some interesting lore to catch up on and learn more about the history of the Entropy Centre.

How Does it Steam Deck?

Very well, actually, at least with GE-Proton7-41. 16:10 is supported. Mostly a smooth 60 FPS well throughout the time I played it on the highest graphics settings. 20-25 W consumed on average. I can clock it down to 40 Hz with a TDP limit of 8 or 9, depending on the level. You could even get away with 7 W in some cases, so long as you have the resolution set to 1024 x 768 in borderless. Setting the refresh rate to 40 Hz will make the game only consume 11-12 W, and it still looks pretty good in my opinion.

If you’d like a more detailed report, have a look at Steam Deck HQ’s review.

If You Like Puzzles, You’ll Like This

I really enjoyed my time playing The Entropy Centre. The lore is interesting, the puzzle mechanics are certainly executed well, and the back and forth dialog between Aria and ASTRA can be pretty entertaining to listen to at times. According to How Long to Beat, the game takes about nine hours to finish. The game is definitely something to look out for if you’re a fan of the Portal series.

TL;DR

The good:

interesting story/lore
well-executed puzzle mechanics that are neither too difficult nor easy
works great on Deck

No cons for this game! At least not yet…

Get the game on Steam for $25.

Review key provided by Terminals.

Proton Experimental Adds Fix for Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Vampire Survivors, Enables Hidraw for Simucube Racing Wheels/Fanatec Pedals

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 01:20:47 -0500

Yesterday’s Proton Experimental update mostly focuses on bug fixes. But in addition to game-specific fixes, we’ve got support for another game: 雀姬 (Mahjong ladies) – which, I believe, points to an anime board game. Hidraw has been enabled for Simucube racing wheels and Fanatec pedals. In case you’re not aware, hidraw “provides a raw interface to USB and Bluetooth Human Interface Devices (HIDs)” and is “useful for communicating with non-conformant HID devices which send and receive data in a way that is inconsistent with their report descriptors.”

Everything else in this update is related to bug fixes:

fix Zeepkist freezing when using controller
fix Microsoft Flight Simulator crashing during longer flights
fix Vampire Survivors crashing on SteamOS 3.4
fix Sackboy: A Big Adventure failing to start the first time it’s launched
fix Marvel Snap not being able connect to online services
fix video playback speed/stutter in METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN
fix Halo Infinite intro video playing in a wrong language

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Steam Deck Client Stable Fixes OSK In-Game, Fixes Overlay With Native Games (Plus Beta Update)

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:04:52 -0500

Yesterday’s Deck client update (stable) is almost all fixes. Every bullet point except one starts with the word “Fixed.” Fixes have been made for Steam Input, Remote Play, Desktop Mode, and in general. Patch notes are as follows:

General

Fixed lock screen PIN reset process to not show PIN entry screen upon Steam Deck restart
Fixed crash when touching gift or new inventory item notification
Fixed “show password” toggle to show/hide the password.
Fixed On Screen Keyboard no longer showing when requested by the game or Proton
Fixed overlay causing crashes on some native games (Borderlands 2)
Fixed an issue where context menus would not properly highlight focused items
Fixed crash when exiting a 1-on-1 voice chat
Fixed an issue where notification toasts would fail to appear

Steam Input

Fixed a case where switching Virtual Menus w/ an action set, layer, or modeshift could cause them to stop working
Fixed an issue introduced in a recent update to the old Big Picture configurator causing the names of new virtual menu bindings to be displayed incorrectly
Fixed the L3 and R3 buttons not working on some third party PS3 controllers
Fixed controllers being treated as Xbox One controllers by default when defining their layout
Fixed the L3/R3 buttons not being detected for some third party PS3 controllers
Added Left and Right Stick Deflection as an option for Gyro Activation Buttons. Stick deflection is no longer considered a part of “Touch” (Cap Sense) on SteamDeck.
Fixed rumble for Switch Pro Controllers attached over USB

Remote Play

Fixed getting the wrong personalization (colors, etc.) for streaming PS4 controllers
Fixed streaming Bluetooth controllers not turning off

Desktop Mode

Fixed size of content in Update news dialog when running with Windows text scaling >100%
Fixed display of the Update News and other popup dialogs w/ GPU accelerated rendering disabled

Doesn’t look like the SteamOS 3.4 update with updated Arch packages arrived in this update. I suspect it has to do with legal issues surrounding the fix for hardware decoding. The updated Arch packages probably won’t show up on stable until this gets fixed.

In addition to the stable client update, an update was shipped to the beta/preview branches on Wednesday. More fixes? Yes, indeed:

additional crash logging
fix to input device handling
fixed an issue where context menus would not properly highlight focused items
fixed crash when exiting a 1-on-1 voice chat
fixed an issue where notification toasts would fail to appear

See the patch notes for the stable update here, and the beta update here.

Intel Optane SSD - Review-in-Progress

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 11:49:07 -0500

Intel was kind enough to send one of their Optane SSDs to me. Here’s my thoughts on it so far.

Note: this review is a work-in-progress! My thoughts are NOT final.

The reason why this is a work-in-progress is, well, I’ve had this drive for about a month-and-a-half so far. Normally a hardware review doesn’t take me any longer than two weeks once I receive the product. But I have just been bombarded with other things that came in: Steam Deck accessories, the Thelio, review keys for games, etc. On top of this I’m getting a customized GameCube controller tomorrow. So between having to take care of all of those, this has caused the delay of this review.

Another factor is, this drive has required a significant amount of attention. A lot of testing had to be done measuring load times, and there’s still plenty of more testing left to do. That being said, I wanted to have at least this preview out since it will likely take another few weeks – maybe even months – until the complete, finalized review is ready.

What Is Optane?

Intel, at one point in time, entered the SSD business with their Optane line. These SSDs come in a variety of form factors: U.2, M.2, and PCIe. There’s also different “flavors”: the 905p (which is the one I have, and uses U.2), the P1600X (M.2), the 900p (PCIe), and a few others. Per the press documentation:

The Intel® Optane™ SSD 905P is designed for the most demanding storage workloads in client systems, delivering high random read/write performance coupled with low latency and industry-leading endurance. Built with Intel® Optane™ technology, a revolutionary class of non-volatile memory, the Intel® Optane™ SSD 905P is empowering professional users, content creators, and enthusiasts to extract greater platform performance.

So basically, Optane SSDs are really fast hard drives, at least when it comes to random read and write speeds. Intel provides a chart to give you all the numbers you could possibly want:

Sequential read/write speeds are going to be fairly similar to your typical PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD. Where the 905p shines, however, is the random read and write speeds. They are significantly faster.

Case in point: the other drive that I use, the Plextor M9Pe M.2 1 TB NVMe, has a sequential read and write speed of 3,200/2,100 MBps respectively, and a random read and write speed of 400k/300k IOPS. The 905p has a sequential 2,700/2,200 MBps and a random 575k/550k IOPS. A bit surprised that the latter isn’t as fast when it comes to reading sequential speeds (at least, if we go by these raw numbers), but it’s nearly 1.5 times faster for random reading speeds, and almost twice as fast for random write. It’s also slightly faster when it comes to sequential write speeds.

Intel also notes that their Optane SSDs have a significantly longer life span than traditional PCIe NVMe drives. Mean time between failures (MTBF) on the 905p is 1.6 million hours. But that’s not much longer than the Plextor drive, which has a MTBF of 1.5 million. In any case, I’m not expecting the 905p to “die” out anytime soon; it will likely last for a good 20 years at least.

Sadly, however, Intel is retiring these SSDs. So I’m grateful Intel sent one over, so that I could give you guys a taste of what this SSD is capable of.

Package Contents

Here’s what came in the mail when I got the drive:

In the box, besides the drive itself, was a M.2 adapter, an instruction manual, and a couple of screws. I also got a personal, hand-written thank you note from Jacek Wysoczynski, the one who is “responsible for Strategy and Solution Architecture in the Intel Optane Group” and the one who I got in touch with for getting a review unit of the 905p.

I kind of dig that. It’s nice to get that “personal touch” whenever you get a package. It was also nice of him to give me the largest capacity that Intel had at the time. Initially he offered a 240 GB drive. When I told him that wasn’t good enough, he went the extra mile of finding me one that’s twice the size.

The manual provides some brief instructions on how to get the drive installed on your system, be it PCIe or, in my case, U.2.

Here’s the drive underside:

If you’ve never heard of U.2 before, don’t worry; I never heard about it either until I got this drive. It looks very similar to the connections a mechanical hard drive would use. The exception would be, if you can see in the photo below, there’s this little “notch” towards the center of the connection, and the connection is one piece, rather than having two separate connections.

My power supply doesn’t have this type of connection (and I would tend to think most PSUs don’t). Fortunately the box comes with a M.2 adapter. You connect the drive on one end, add a SATA connection with your PSU, and connect the other end to an available M.2 slot on your motherboard. Note that the drive will not get enough power if you don’t supply the SATA connection – my system wouldn’t detect the drive otherwise.

See this clip here in my desktop? That’s where a 2.5" drive can go.

But with the 905p being a 15mm thick brick, it was too thick to fit inside the clip. I ended up having to take the clip out. I can fit the drive in now, even though it might be a little awkward since it’s not wide enough to accomodate screws on both sides. I can only put one in on one side. One screw is better than none, though; at least it will hold the drive in place.

With the drive in place, here’s the connection on one side:

And then, the M.2 connection on the other:

Is Intel Optane Actually Faster?

In some ways, it definitely is. When it comes to web browsing, downloading and upgrading packages on Arch, as well as general multi-tasking, I’ve noticed my experience has been more “seamless.” I don’t expect any downtime when trying to launch an application, even with tens of them open. Arch has been super-responsive and fast.

To give you an idea of speed, as I hinted with my first impressions, it takes about three-and-a-half minutes to transfer 250 GB worth of games, from my Plextor drive to the 905p. That’s roughly 1.2 GBps. And it takes about five minutes to get Arch installed as btrfs with the NVIDIA graphics drivers and the Cinnamon desktop included.

Here’s a more accurate comparison between the read and write times between both drives. This was benchmarked with GNOME’s Disk utility:

That’s a pretty nice jump, huh? Both read and write times are seeing significant improvements, especially with the former. Average access time on the Plextor is also ten times longer. The simplicity of the graph with the 905p is nice; it’s not all over the place like the Plextor drive. It’s a lot more “consistent.”

I managed to get a full benchmark of the 905p with Phoronix Test Suite. You can see the entire results on openbenchmarking.org. But here’s a few highlights.

SQLite:

That’s far faster than any other drive on openbenchmarking.org. Testing 128 threads, for example, is about 50 seconds on the 905p. The closest competitor would be the Crucial 500GB CT500P5SSD8, which doesn’t even come close at 80 seconds!

Flexible I/O:

Random read at 4 KB with the Linux AIO engine competes very closely to the Samsung SSD 970 PRO. This drive ranks 92nd percentile at an average of 347k IOPS. The 905p does a little better at 363k IOPS. Not the fastest in this instance, but it’s definitely in the top three.

FS-Mark:

Testing 5k files that are one MB in size with four threads – the 905p scores 1640.8 files. This does just slightly worse than the 3841GB Micron 9300 MTFDHAL3T8TDP, which can process 1650 files. This would rank the 905p in fourth place on openbenchmarking.org.

The gaming aspect, however, is where I’m scratching my head. After hours of testing various games and their load times, I am simply not seeing any faster loading times compared to my Plextor drive. I’ve wiped the shader cache and compat data on both drives, ensuring that every game had a clean “slate,” so to speak. I even went so far as to re-format the 905p as ext4, since apparently it’s the best file system to use, according to Alka from the Optane Discord group that I’m in. Absolutely no difference in loading times.

I tested the following titles:

Horizon Zero Dawn
Destroy All Humans 2! Reprobed
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Sonic Frontiers

All hard-hitting games, right? Big open-world environments that are definitely going to take a toll on your hard drive in terms of loading time. You can see the comparisons between my Plextor drive and the 905p below. Every game was tested at least three times. Both drives, at the time of testing, were using btrfs and using Arch Linux, using the highest available graphics settings for each game at 1080p. Unless otherwise noted, these games were tested with Proton 7.0-4 (Horizon Zero Dawn was tested with GE-Proton7-41, as for some reason the game loads much faster with this than vanilla Proton). Load times were recorded with a stopwatch, rounded to the nearest second.

Definitely a head-scratcher, right? Why would Kena and Sonic Frontiers take a second longer than the Plextor drive? (Although, the recorded times are rough estimates, so take the results with a grain of salt.) Again, even after formatting the 905p as ext4, the load times were similar.

Something’s definitely not sitting well here. So, despite the extensive testing I’ve done so far, I have yet much more troubleshooting left to do. There’s just got to be something that I’m missing here. I don’t understand why game loading times are the same, perhaps just a tad slower.

Worth Your Time?

That remains to be determined. After all, this review is a work-in-progress. In general, yes, I would say getting an Intel Optane drive is worth it, for general use. Gaming, however, you might not see any significant difference, at least as far as loading times. But perhaps where the 905p shines in this case is when it comes to shader compilation times. In other words, when you launch a game for the first time, there’s probably going to be a lot less stutter from getting shaders cached. More testing required for that.

Special thanks to Jacek from Intel for sending the drive over for my review, and for him trusting me, being the small content creator that I am. Thanks also go to Luke Short for helping me get in touch with Intel, and Alka for their benchmarks and their assistance in helping get this review out.

You can get the 905p (960 GB) on Newegg for $400. If you’re looking for something less expensive, you can go for the P1600X (118 GB) for $76. You might want to hurry and grab them before they sell out, since Intel won’t be producing any more!

TL;DR

The good:

very fast, at least when it comes to general use

The not-so-good:

too thick to fit inside the 2.5" drive bay that I have
the 905p uses U.2 and requires a M.2 adapter
game load times aren’t seeing any difference compared to a regular PCIe Gen 4 SSD

Sonic Frontiers Modding Video Tutorial is Up!

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 14:34:42 -0500

Some folks wanted a video tutorial going over how to get Hedge Mod Manager running on Deck, so here you go.

Text version:

Get STL: git clone https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch.git
cd steamtinkerlaunch
./steamtinkerlaunch (updates to latest git and installs all dependencies needed)
./steamtinkerlaunch compat add (adds STL to Steam)
Restart Steam and force Frontiers to use STL. Run the game
Go to GLOBAL, configure HMM to use nightly build. Close STL and force Frontiers to use GE-Proton7-41 (or an older build if it doesn’t work for some reason)
./steamtinkerlaunch hmm start nightly (to verify if HMM works. Will take a while) 7b. If HMM doesn’t open, delete “hedgemodmanager” folder in /home/deck/.config/steamtinkerlaunch/, then run the above command again
Get mods and place them in the “Mods” folder inside the game install directory
Run HMM again with ./steamtinkerlaunch hmm start nightly, configure mods and codes
Click “Save” when done. Launch the game either directly through Steam or with HMM
(Optional) Create a desktop shortcut for HMM. Paste the following into a text editor:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=path/to/stl_executable/./steamtinkerlaunch hmm start nightly
Icon=path/to/icon
Name=Hedge Mod Manager
Type=Application

Save the file to your desktop with a .desktop extension. You can then right-click this file and add it as a non-Steam shortcut so you can run it in Game Mode.

If Frontiers doesn’t load, use an older version of Proton.

If anyone comes across any issues, well, I might not be able to help any further. You may want to describe your issue on the HMM GitHub thread.

If you want to get HMM running on desktop Linux, you can refer to my other guide.

And Just Like That, Steam Deck Ships to Asian Markets December 17th

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 11:15:44 -0500

After months of silence, it appears that @OnDeck has finally made an announcement for those of you waiting for your Deck in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

We’re happy to announce that Steam Decks will start shipping in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on December 17th via Komodo, our official Steam Deck distributor in these regions.

Customers in these territories can reserve their Deck via Komodo. If you have already reserved, email confirmations will be sent beginning tomorrow. The official docking station can also be reserved in addition to the Deck. There is “free shipping for orders placed prior to December 17th.”

An Interview with Steam Deck Checker

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 09:02:15 -0500

Steam Deck Checker is a YouTuber that, as the name implies, covers all things Steam Deck, from game reviews, to interviews, to news, to everything in-between. At the time of writing this, he has a little over 2k subscribers. Though most of his content is in German, there are a few videos that he makes in English, such as:

(You should check that last one out, it’s really good.)

So I wanted to have a chat with him and see what makes him tick when it comes to the Deck. Enjoy!

Note: this interview contains minor edits for spelling/grammar.

TL;DR

named Fabian, 40-years-old, full-time software engineer, married with two kids, in Germany
SDC was founded May 2022. Prior to this, he ran a channel about e-cigarettes
the “Checker” in the name indicates that while he may not check everything, he at least tries to cover as much as possible
his channel focuses on testing games on the Deck, news, tutorials, benchmarks
working on a new video series that “takes inexperienced Steam Deck owners by the hand from the beginning and shows step-by-step the deeper possibilities of the Steam Deck”
favorite games are Fallout 3 and The Witcher 3
at first skeptical of the Deck, but “if I wasn’t excited about the Steam Deck, I wouldn’t be here or continue to run my channel”
not familiar with Linux prior to using the Deck, but much more intensively involved with it now
views Linux as “the perfect platform for PC gaming, because of its resource-saving environment compared to Windows”

Explain who you are and why you founded Steam Deck Checker.

My name is Fabian. I am 40 years old and a full-time software engineer. I am happily married and live with my wife and two wonderful children in our small house in Germany, in Lower Saxony near Hannover. The Steam Deck Checker channel was started in the middle of May 2022. There is a little back story to this. Before the Steam Decker channel I ran a small channel (about 450 subscribers) on the subject of e-cigarettes for just under two years. However, it was frustrating to always publish videos that are locked for viewers below 18 years old. But I’m just a technology nerd and like to explain things or tell about it and for this YouTube is the perfect medium.

That’s why I wanted to develop in a different direction on YouTube in the long term, but I didn’t have any concrete ideas at the time. When the Steam Deck finally arrived in early May 2022, the first video (Steam Deck unboxing) was actually meant to be off-topic on my e-cigarettes channel.

But I found more and more enthusiasm for the ingenious piece of hardware, and at the same time realized that there were still no German-language channels that only care about the Steam Deck. So I thought, try to find your place in the niche. And now six months later and over 2,200 subscribers I am here.

What exactly does the word “Checker” in the title mean?

Yes, that checker in the name. I would like to reverse that. But now it’s established that I’m the Steam Deck Checker. I actually wanted something for the channel name that rhymed with Steam or Deck. First I thought of Check, but that was somehow too general and not personal enough for me.

So it ended up being Checker. In retrospect, however, I feel that it can be perceived as snooty or that people think I would be of the opinion that I know everything about the Steam deck. Man there is no one who knows everything, and who claims that, the lies 😉 The “Checker” should refer in the original thought that I halt [to] check, review, etc.

It has become established that I say at the beginning of each video: “Hi, I’m your Fabian, the Steam Deck Checker, who does not check everything. But always tries for you.” And this saying goes down well, because I reveal right away that I’m just a guy who lives out his hobby on YouTube.

How long has the channel been around? What type of content do you mostly focus on?

As I said, the channel exists since the middle of May 2022. From the number of videos you could think that I mainly focus on testing which games are executable on the Steam Deck. But these videos are produced quickly. The weekly or bi-weekly news about Linux and the Steam Deck is well-established, it is always well-received.

But my personal focus is on tutorials and benchmarks. Since there are not always topics for tutorials, and benchmarks are expensive to produce, you have to remember that I still have a full-time job and family, they are a little less [frequent] on the channel than gameplay videos, but [they] have the most viewers. But also the presentation and testing of Steam Deck accessories I do very happily.

In addition, I also try my hand at English videos every now and then if I find that no one else has covered this topic in English yet or I can contribute something new. I would also like to do more player reviews of newer games, but my channel is still too small to provide me with keys on a regular basis. And buying every new interesting game is of course too costly.

Currently I’m focusing on a new video series. A guide that takes inexperienced Steam Deck owners by the hand from the beginning and shows step-by-step the [deeper] possibilities of the Steam Deck. The learning curve is steep, but it’s worth it!

What are some of your favorite games?

My two all-time favorites are Fallout 3 and The Witcher 3, both of which run fantastically on the Steam deck, Fallout 3 even with mods! I just love open-world games in general, no matter [if they are] RPGs or more action-oriented ones like GTA or Spider-Man.

However, the game times are now too much, which is rather bad for my limited free time. Games like the new Spider-Man: Miles Morales with about 10-15 hours are a real blessing. But the genre plays a subordinate role for me as long as it tells a good story or can shine with compelling game mechanics.

How long have you had a Steam Deck, and what are your thoughts on it?

Since a week before the launch of the channel :-D The Steam Deck has taken my favorite hobby, gaming, in a new direction. A game changer! Due to job and family reasons I had less time to play games the last [couple of] years. Especially on the PC or stationary consoles. Already the Nintendo Switch could move me through the concept, always and everywhere; again more to play. But it was annoying to have to buy quite a few games again or there are games like Fallout 3, not at all. Therefore, I had also tried the first GPD Win in the meantime, but it was too fiddly with Windows and the hardware was actually too weak even for games for Fallout 3.

When the Steam Deck was introduced, I was very skeptical at first, since Valve already had some failed and dropped hardware projects. But the price, considering the technical specs, was unbeatable. So I figured it was worth a try. And what can I say, if I wasn’t excited about the Steam Deck, I wouldn’t be here or continue to run my channel. Sure there are little things that could be improved on the Deck, but Valve drives a high-class update policy and listens to the community. I think a future Steam Deck 2 will be a step up in every way.

Prior to owning a Steam Deck, how familiar were you with Linux? Do you think Linux for the Steam Deck was a good choice?

Apart from a few professional contacts, I had never been privately involved with Linux before. Just because I always assumed that mainstream games are not possible on Linux. But Valve proved me wrong with SteamOS and Proton and the performance of the Steam Deck. Since then – as far as it is possible for me – I’m much more intensively [involved] with Linux. If only because many tutorials and optimizations require console commands. And you want to know what you are telling your audience.

Meanwhile I am convinced that Linux is actually the perfect platform for PC gaming, because of its resource-saving environment compared to Windows. And I hope that the success of the Deck will always motivate game developers to release more native Linux implementations or optimize [more] towards Proton.

Absolutely! I would like to thank my community, both on YouTube and on my Discord server, for the support and the generally friendly tone, which is not a matter of course in the Internet age. Also I was positively surprised and touched how many people support me financially via Patreon and the YouTube channel membership. Every cent currently flows into the channel. Be it games, video software or other “studio” equipment.

Furthermore, I would like to thank Michael, aka xylappen, and his YouTube channel for the great exchange of experiences that we make monthly in our joint (video) podcast. I would also like to thank Timo from the YouTube channel The Deckverse. Due to his media experience he could support me in many points or share his knowledge and experience.

But I also want to thank you and your website for the great articles and the nice contact and support. I’m just looking forward to accompany the Steam Deck on its further journey with all of you. It will be an awesome time and a wild and fun trip :-D !

Steam Deck Checker is on the following platforms:

YouTube
Discord (in German)
you can support him on Patreon

Portal with RTX Launches December 8th!

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:34:08 -0500

Portal with RTX was originally scheduled to show up sometime this month. But according to NVIDIA, it’s been pushed back to December 8th. This free DLC brings “full ray tracing” and “DLSS 3 to one of the best video games of all time.”

Experience the critically acclaimed and award-winning Portal™ reimagined with ray tracing. Every frame of gameplay is upgraded with stunning full ray tracing, new, hand-crafted hi-res physically based textures, and new, enhanced high-poly models evocative of the originals, all in stunning 4K. In Portal with RTX, full ray tracing transforms each level, enabling light to bounce and be affected by the scene’s geometry and materials. Every light is ray-traced and casts shadows, global illumination indirect lighting naturally illuminates and darkens rooms, volumetric ray-traced lighting scatters through fog and smoke, and shadows are pixel perfect.

NVIDIA just released a new video comparing the game with and without DLSS 3. It’s only shown for a few seconds, and you might want to take the results with a grain of salt, since the video is coming directly from NVIDIA. In any case, it looks like the game gets about five times the FPS with DLSS 3 enabled and RTX on, versus RTX and DLSS off.

The blog post mentions the ray tracing is “incredibly demanding, stressing graphics cards to their limits.” And if we go according to their chart, they’re not kidding:

Apparently with DLSS 2, however, 3060 owners will get “playable” frames at 1080p at High settings. The chart indicates that the “playable” FPS in this case would be 30. Looks like my Thelio will barely be able to handle it. 60+ FPS at the same resolution and graphics settings would require a 3080 or higher. 4K, 60+ FPS at ultra settings would need the 4080 with DLSS 3.

NVIDIA will be having a “launch party” via livestream on December 6th. See the blog post for more info.

I can’t wait to try this out!

Heroic Games Launcher Gets Massive 2.5.0 Update, Adds Download Manager, Sideloading of Games, HowLongToBeat, Custom Themes, and Plenty More!

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:13:48 -0500

Huge congrats to the Heroic team for this, well, heroic release! There’s just so many cool new features, improvements, and bug fixes with the 2.5.0 update, codenamed “Yamato.” The stable update just came out a few hours ago and contains over three months’ worth of changes. Here are the highlights:

download manager – works similarly to Steam’s download manager; introduced with the first beta
sideload games and apps, even if they aren’t in your Epic/GOG library
HowLongToBeat – introduced with beta 3
custom themes with CSS, along with two new themes
the ability to add Steam games automatically
improved game detection from external drives
revamped Settings and login UI
improved UI performance, better gamepad navigation
updates to Legendary and Electron
tons of other fixes and improvements

See the full patch notes on GitHub

All images are credit of the Heroic Games Launcher team.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Lock Screen PIN Reset Process, Fixes Gift Crash

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:09:21 -0500

Yesterday’s Steam Deck client beta update is all about bug fixes. Fixes for the lock screen PIN, the “show password” toggle, the Switch Pro controller vibration over USB, and more:

General:

Fixed size of content in Update news dialog when running with Windows text scaling >100%
Fixed lock screen PIN reset process to not show PIN entry screen upon Steam Deck restart
Fixed crash when touching gift or new inventory item notification
Fixed “show password” toggle to show/hide the password.
Fixed On Screen Keyboard no longer showing when requested by the game or Proton

Steam Input:

Fixed rumble for Switch Pro Controllers attached over USB

See the patch notes on Steam.

NVIDIA Driver 525.60.11 Adds a Fix for GNOME, Supports Dynamic Boost on AMD Laptops

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 13:39:13 -0500

New driver update for NVIDIA GPUs went out today. Included in this update are the support of Dynamic Boost for notebooks with AMD CPUs, improved performance of PRIME render-offloaded apps, the removal of stutter when moving windows in GNOME, a fix for Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, and tons of other changes.

Features include:

Added support for Dynamic Boost on notebooks with AMD CPUs.
Added support for the EGL_MESA_platform_surfaceless extension.
Implemented support for over-the-air updates in the Proton and Wine NVIDIANGX build. This feature is disabled by default and can be enabled by setting the “PROTON_ENABLE_NGX_UPDATER” environment variable to a value of “1”.
Added a new CUDA Debugger implementation for Pascal and newerarchitectures as a part of the driver package: libcudadebugger.so (previously released separately as “CUDA GDB Developer Preview”).

Updates:

Improved the performance of PRIME render-offloaded applications.
Updated the nvidia-settings control panel to prevent the creationof display layouts that exceed hardware size limitations when using the SLI Mosaic configuration page, and to display a warning if such a layout is created manually in the Display Configuration page.
Removed the hard dependency on GTK 2 when building nvidia-settingsfrom source. nvidia-settings may now be built with support for GTK 2 only, GTK 3 only, or both GTK 2 and GTK 3.
Updated the open kernel modules to support Quadro Sync, Stereo,rotation in X11, and YUV 4:2:0 on Turing.
Updated an error message that nvidia-installer displays when kernelheader files cannot be found to print full paths for the missing files.
Updated nvidia-installer to use “command -v” in place of depending on"which" to determine the availability and location of certain tools.
Updated the Vulkan driver so that the following extensions no longerdepend on nvidia-uvm.ko being loaded at runtime:
- VK_KHR_acceleration_structure
- VK_KHR_deferred_host_operations
- VK_KHR_ray_query
- VK_KHR_ray_tracing_pipeline
- VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
- VK_NV_ray_tracing
- VK_NV_ray_tracing_motion_blur
- VK_NVX_binary_import
- VK_NVX_image_view_handle
Updated nvidia-installer to allow use of the “–add-this-kernel"feature by non-root users.
Updated nvidia-installer to display a more accurate progress bar whenbuilding the kernel modules.
Updated nvidia-installer to display a warning message if a VulkanICD loader is not detected.
Reworked nvidia-installer’s support for DKMS: the kernel modules willnow be optionally registered with DKMS after the installer has already built and installed them on its own. nvidia-installer will now register the kernel modules with DKMS by default when the dkms(8) utility is detected on the system.

Bug fixes are as follows:

Fixed a bug which caused Dynamic Boost to not engage on certain AmpereGPU based notebooks.
Fixed a regression that prevented Warp & Blend from working correctly.
Fixed a bug that resulted in stutter when moving windows in GNOME.
Fixed a bug which caused suspend to fail on systems running GNOME 3as a Wayland compositor with NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations enabled.
Fixed a bug in the Vulkan driver which could lead to corruption ingeometry and tessellation control shaders.
Fixed a bug that caused nvidia-settings to find incorrect fan speedranges on some GPUs. Lower-level layers of the driver protected the hardware from programming incorrect fan speeds, so the symptom was only incorrect reporting. Now, reporting in nvidia-settings matches what actually gets programmed in hardware.
Fixed a regression in 515.76 that caused blank screens and hangs whenstarting an X server on RTX 30 series GPUs in some configurations where the boot display is connected via HDMI.
Fixed a bug where Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered would sometimes crashwith Xid 13 errors on Turing and later.

Patch notes can also be seen on NVIDIA’s website.

Weekly News Recap (Aggressive Nintendo, Proton Next, Fan Controller Monitor)

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:09:52 -0500

Steam Deck

Monday’s client beta fixes remote play and adds new gyro activation options
evidently Crysis 2 and 3 Remastered are working great on Deck
if you want to play local or online multiplayer with Nintendo Switch emulation on Linux/Steam Deck, here’s a guide

News

Ubisoft is bringing more of their catalogue over to Steam
Steam Autumn sale is live until Tuesday
Nintendo issues DMCA takedowns for Switch game artwork on SteamGridDB
Garfield Kart - Furious Racing is free to grab over on Fanatical

Hardware

I took a look at the Thelio desktop (i5-13600K, RTX 3060)
Thelio desktop gets customizable accent
getting a customized GameCube controller in the next few days…powered by open-source firmware. You’re not gonna wanna fite me in Smash. Review coming soon

Software Updates

Wine 7.22 fixes Saints Row (2022)
Cemu 2.0-18 adds fixes for the AppImage, adds a delete shader cache option
Heroic Games Launcher 2.5.0 beta 3 adds HLTB, improved UI navigation
WinesapOS 3.2.0 improves Mac support, decreases image size, improves gamepad support, increased stability, and tons of other changes/improvements
Proton Next 7.0-5 adds support for over a dozen new titles, and dozens more of bug fixes
ChimeraOS 37 upgrades to PipeWire, increases responsiveness of Chimera web app
ProtonUp-Qt 2.7.6 improves Lutris game detection and STL installation
Ryujinx LDN 3.0 adds connectivity to actual Nintendo Switch consoles, improves performance for tons of titles including Pokemon Scarlet & Violet
OpenRazer 3.5.0 adds support for more devices, adds a few improvements and bug fixes

Other

be wary of Steam reviews and Deck ratings
Ryujinx gets ported to MacOS!
need to monitor your hardware’s sensors? Try Hwmon Handheld Fan Controller

Wine 7.22 Adds OpenLDAP Support, Fixes Saints Row (2022)

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 22:59:36 -0500

Wine 7.22 is now available. Features are as follows:

32-on-64 thunks for both Vulkan and OpenGL
OpenLDAP library bundled and built as PE
support for the RAW print processor in WinPrint
more progress on the long types printf format conversion

In addition, 38 bugs were fixed. Both Saints Row (2022) and Gothic II: Night of the Raven should now run.

See the full patch notes on WineHQ.

Cover image credit: Volition/Deep Silver

Cemu 2.0-18 Adds AppImage Fixes, Delete Shader Cache Button

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 08:05:48 -0500

Cemu 2.0-18 came out yesterday. Notable features with this update include the option to delete shader cache from the context menu, simplified Vulkan “swapchain code,” the dropdown combobox on the Linux version should now work, and fixed resource path for the AppImage. Some other smaller bug fixes landed as well.

Image credit: qurious-pixel

See the commit history from November 21st onwards for more details. Download the pre-compiled build from GitHub.

Heroic Games Launcher 2.5.0 Beta 3 Adds HowLongToBeat, Improves UI Navigation with Gamepads

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 14:54:06 -0500

Pretty exciting update for Heroic Games Launcher. When seeing the details for a game, you’ll see how many hours it takes to beat the game, so long as the data for that particular game is available. Awesome feature to see.

Plenty of other features have been added to beta 3 of version 2.5.0:

UI and performance improvements
“more seamless” UI navigation with gamepad, controls more akin to the Deck UI
similar behavior is exerted as the Deck when a MicroSD card has been removed or installed, for increased seamlessness for detecting externally installed games
improved cloud sync detection
Legendary (the backend that powers Heroic) has been updated to the latest version; this fixes the accidental deletion of save data when the cloud version of the save gets downloaded
the Linux version of the app now has a checkbox to use the default Wine settings when installing a game
various smaller changes and tweaks

Some bugs have been fixed:

VKD3D should now install correctly
autosaves sync should work when launching games from Steam

Future releases of 2.5.0 “will focus only on bugfixes.”

See the full patch notes and known issues with this release on GitHub.

Be Wary of Steam Reviews and Steam Deck Ratings

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 13:38:33 -0500

Boiling Steam recently highlighted the fact that Steam Deck ratings can get changed over the course of time. An example is Dirt Rally 2.0 suddenly going from Verified to Unsupported. One customer complained that Dirt Rally 2.0 no longer runs on Deck due to the “new launcher” that the game supposedly has.

I get the frustration. But what frustrates me in return is when reviews like these spread misinformation. Fun fact: there is no launcher for Dirt Rally 2.0 whatsoever. I just played this on my Thelio desktop this morning, and there’s no launcher. It runs just fine. Played the game on Deck as well; no launcher there either. Matter of fact, the game plays a flawless 60 FPS at native 800p resolution with the default medium graphics settings, and 16:10 is supported. Samsagax from the ChimeraOS team also reported the game runs just fine on his OneXPlayer.

The only “launcher” I can think of with this game is when you press “PLAY” and you’re asked whether you want to play it in VR mode or not.

Obviously, on Deck it’s not recommended to run games via VR. But is that the honest reason why the game is now suddenly “Unsupported”? Just because there’s a VR mode?

I really don’t know what the reviewer is referring to. They could potentially have wrote the review that was meant for a different game by accident. Because there’s clearly no launcher for Dirt Rally 2.0. Game is rated Gold over on ProtonDB.

Crazy conspiracy theory: maybe the “Unsupported” rating is just to play it safe in the event EA pushes an update out that will break compatibility later on. Who knows, EA might actually force users to use the EA app in the background – which has been known to break Proton compatibility – but that’s not a requirement at the time of writing this. Maybe there’s just enough friction going on between Valve and EA that the former deliberately set the latter’s games as “Unsupported”, while EA designs their app in a way to deliberately break compatibility with Proton/Steam Deck. Some hidden rivalry that’s going on behind the scenes that we’re not aware of. Considering that the other giant game publisher out there, Ubisoft, is now taking sides with Valve by bringing more of their titles over to Steam, perhaps that has increased the tension. But this is purely speculation.

So the takeaway is this: don’t believe every review that you come across. Perhaps this reviewer’s review will come to light one day, but for the time being, the “launcher” is a lie. And herein lies yet another reason why you shouldn’t trust Steam Deck ratings. Just because a game is labeled as “Unsupported” doesn’t mean it doesn’t run. Sonic Frontiers runs great on Deck with a few tweaks, even though it was initially “Unsupported.”

A Look at the Thelio Desktop by System76

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 02:04:26 -0500

The Thelio by System76 is an impressive-looking desktop. It comes in a black finish, mostly rectangular in shape, and is very mimimalistic in design.

A few months ago, the Thelio went through a redesign. Instead of the accent going around part of the front and the entire right side, it is now just a small sliver at the front. It’s also user-replaceable; users can take it out and replace with a different design if they so choose. The right side of the chassis has now been replaced with an etching of the Rocky Mountains, just like the left side. The design makes sense; the chassis was designed in Denver, Colorado after all.

When the initial batch of Thelios went out to reviewers, I was like, “Why didn’t I get one?” But Adam Balla – media relations manager at System76 – told me that I’m actually the first person to be reviewing the Thelio with the new Raptor Lake processor. Don’t I feel special?

Package Contents

The package, when it came to my door, was somewhat barebones. The box that it came in was enormous.

Inside of that box was the System76-designed box for the Thelio, protected by four corner pieces of foam. The desktop itself is protected by a top and bottom layer of foam. Taking that out reveals the Thelio, a power cord, an instruction manual for swapping out the accent, and a welcome card. The welcome card says:

Greetings from Thelio! Thanks for joining us on our mission into the world of open hardware. If you’re new to Linux, there are a ton of open-source software applications you can download for free in the Pop!_Shop or Ubuntu Software Center. Our support team is ready to help out if you have any questions. The links on the right are a good place to start! Have fun and enjoy your journey!

Other than that, that’s it. I’m surprised they didn’t give me any HDMI or DisplayPort cables. Neither did they send any additional accents; just the walnut version.

I/O, Specs, and Price

I have the base Thelio model. There’s several different versions depending on your needs. The base Thelio has the following I/O, from top to bottom:

CMOS button
HDMI 2.1
DisplayPort 1.4a
four USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports
2.5-Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.2
two USB type-C ports with Thunderbolt 4
two Mini DisplayPorts
mic in, line out, line in

The GPU (the RTX 3060, in my case) has:

HDMI 2.1
three DisplayPorts 1.4a

On the front, there’s the System76 logo at the bottom, the accent to the right of that, and a power button towards the top-left. The power button has a white LED; it’s solid when the system is on, and slowly cycles back and forth to a dark gray to white when it’s asleep. The left and right panels have “THELIO” text printed on them, along with a sketching of the Rocky Mountains.

The base Thelio measures 32.7cm x 20.7cm x 29.1cm (~13" x 8" x 11"). It’s small enough where you could comfortably sit it on your desk, rather than on the floor. A pretty neat design is the vent on the back of the case has the shape of our solar system. The bottom of the chassis has a rubber foot for each corner and a venting hole for the giant fan.

Typically when I request a review unit from System76, I’m able to choose what parts I want. Not so the case with the Thelio. The parts that came in my build are as follows:

i5-13600K – 14 cores, 20 threads, max speed of 5.1 GHz
PNY RTX 3060 – 12 GB VRAM and 3,584 CUDA Cores
Kingston 32 GB DDR5 (2x 16 GB, clocked at 5,600 MHZ)
Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe (sequential read and write speed of 7k/5k MB/s respectively)
MSI MEG Z690I UNIFY Mini-ITX motherboard
Thelio I/O daughterboard running open-source firmware – this is what powers any additional 2.5" hard drives that you may want to install
650 W PSU (FSP Dagger Pro)

Now this is the part where you’re probably rolling your eyes. “Yet another Intel/NVIDIA combo?” Yes, sadly. I’m honestly tired of getting Linux hardware that’s powered by proprietary graphics drivers. If we come across a problem, the community can’t come up with a fix. We’re at the mercy of the company to fix it. Sonic Frontiers is a great example of a game that suffers from terrible framerates on NVIDIA due to the DRM. On AMD? Works just fine. The best discrete AMD GPU that you can get with the Thelio is the 6600. I’m seriously hoping System76 will be able to obtain more AMD GPUs, and more powerful ones at that. The 6900 XT/XTX launches next month; wonder if they could get those once they’re out? Even a 6700 XT would be good enough.

The motherboard only has support for one GPU. Max clearance is 278.175mm (~11"), but recommended clearance is a little less at 268.175mm. It comes in a Mini-ITX form factor and runs System76’s non-open firmware. It uses the 1700 socket and the Intel Z690 chipset, compatibile with Alder Lake and Raptor Lake processors.

When selecting the parts for your Thelio, you can choose either Intel 12th- or 13th-gen or AMD Ryzen 5000 series for the processor. If you choose to go with Intel, you have the option of upgrading the RAM from DDR4 to DDR5. You also have the option of adding PCIe Gen 3 storage. GPUs range from the 1030 all the way to the RTX A4000. As I said before, AMD GPUs are lacking here. The only ones available at the time of writing this is the 6500 XT and the 6600.

The base price for the Thelio, at the time of writing this, is $949. This would come with the 12th-gen Intel G7400, 8 GB of DDR4, 128 GB of storage (presumably PCIe Gen 3), and a 450 W power supply. The most expensive option with a Ryzen processor would cost $7,485 and would have the Ryzen 9 5950X, 64 GB DDR4, 16 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage, an additional 20 TB of traditional HDD, the RTX A400, and a 650 W power supply. The most expensive Intel option would be $9,196 would have the i7-13700K, 64 GB DDR5, 16 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage, 8 TB of PCIe Gen 3, 20 TB HDD, the RTX A2000, and a 650 W power supply.

My configuration came to $2,229.

Repairability

Getting access to the parts inside the Thelio require unscrewing four Philips screws on the back, located on the outermost corners, then lifting the chassis up. This is different than most desktop cases; they require removing two screws and sliding the side panel off. System76 has a detailed overview of each individual component inside the chassis.

Not only this, but they give instructions on how to remove or replace these components. For instance, if you wanted to add a 2.5" hard drive, you would take the two screws out of the drive bay cover, take one of the black plastic rings provided and four screws, insert the screws into the drive, then slide the drive into the daughterboard. Pretty neat that the screws are already provided for you right inside the chassis.

If you wanted to replace the GPU, you would take out the two screws holding the PCIe bracket in place, unscrew four screws holding the side GPU brace, then take the GPU out by removing the power connector, followed by the clip that’s on the PCIe connection. It’s really amazing for them to document this. They have labels for all of the pictures to make it easy to follow as well.

Here’s most of the components taken out:

Wasn’t very difficult to take it apart, but if you plan on upgrading the processor, know that it’s going to be a bit of a pain. You’re going to have to take a lot of stuff out – the GPU brace, the CPU fan, and the massive heatsink. Replacing the RAM is also going to be a pain if you don’t take the GPU out first. Other than that I think the system is very well-designed as far as upgradability.

The Experience

As with any review unit that System76 sends to me, Pop!_OS 22.04 comes pre-loaded as the operating system. I’m not going to get into detail regarding Pop!_OS itself; there’s plenty of those kind of reviews out there. But I will say this – similar to Matthew’s review of the HP Dev One, I don’t like the way Pop!_OS handles AppImages. If you want to run an AppImage, you have to right-click it and select “Run as program”. You can’t simply double-click it and expect it to run. I don’t enjoy this inconvenience.

There’s also that weird thing going on with the Pop!_Shop. Sometimes you don’t know whether you’re installing the Flatpak version of an app or the native .deb package. Sometimes there will be an option to choose between the two packages, sometimes there won’t. I’d like to see a more streamlined approach here, especially for newcomers to Linux who want their software to “just work.”

That aside, and aside from the fact that I’m using a NVIDIA graphics card, my gaming experience has been quite pleasant. I recently picked up Gotham Knights while it was on sale, and I’ve been enjoying it on the Thelio. After the game is done compiling shaders, I can get a comfortable 90-120 FPS on the highest graphics settings at 1080p, upscaled to 1440p with DLSS. Framerate varies depending on where the character is in-game. Inside of buildings, the framerate goes up, which is to be expected since there’s a lot less going on than a big open-world map.

The general consensus I can say, with an i5-13600K and a RTX 3060, is you can expect at least 60 FPS at 1440p, regardless of how demanding the game is. Intel really did step up their game with Raptor Lake. When paired with a 6800 XT, the i5-13600K scores an average of 341 FPS with Dirt Rally 2.0 at 2560 x 1080 resolution, high settings. With an RTX 3060, with the same game and graphics preset, it gets 154 FPS at 1920 x 1080. 4K might be pushing this system to the limit. But thanks to the 3060 being able to make use of DLSS, you should still get a fairly comfortable experience downscaling at 1440p or even 1080p.

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You can see some games in action on YouTube.

The fan inside the system stays fairly quiet well throughout the time I was using it. It gets a little more audible when gaming, but it’s not terribly loud.

When I first got the Thelio, I didn’t follow the instructions for taking the accent out properly. So when I took it out, I used too much force. I wasn’t able to put it back on! So I started panicking. Fortunately, Adam was pretty cool about it. He just sent another accent over, and I was able to successfully replace it after taking the pems out. I won’t be taking out again for the sake of demonstration, out of fear I may damage it again. But here you can see System76 properly do it.

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Benchmarks

Not going to lie, Phoronix Test Suite failed on a lot of tests I tried with it. Shadow of the Tomb Raider kept bringing up the Feral window before launch, the scores when benchmarking F1 2020 largely stayed the same regardless of the graphics preset, and the kernel compilation test simply wouldn’t run at all. It has been a bit frustrating. The only tests that I was able to run successfully was Dirt Rally 2.0 and Blender. Every other benchmark had to be recorded manually. At any rate, here are the results.

Unless otherwise specified, games are running at 1920 x 1080 and upscaled to 1440p with either DLSS or FSR 1.0, while using GE-Proton7-41 with GameMode enabled.

Dirt 5 is looking good with an average framerate of 80 FPS on the highest preset.

Horizon Zero Dawn gets just a little over 100 FPS on average on the highest preset.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider was benchmarked with the native Linux version, using the game’s built-in FSR feature. There are a lot of numbers supplied with each benchmark, so for simplicity’s sake, I will just be referring to the “GPU” framerate rather than “CPU Game” or “CPU Framerate”. 125 FPS on average on the highest preset.

Dirt Rally 2.0 was benchmarked via PTS at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions. Results can also be read online. (Thanks to alkazar from the ChimeraOS team for giving me a Steam key for the game!)

Benchmarking Blender 3.3, with the BMW27 scene and using just the CPU for computation, resulted in 91.06 seconds. This would rank around the 33rd percentile rank on openbenchmarking.org. It does slightly better than the Xeon Gold 6346, but worse than the i7-12700K.

It’s a Nice Desktop, Barred by NVIDIA

I know for a fact System76 has been asked several times if they ever have any plans on selling just the case for the Thelio itself. They’ve always said no. But I can theorize why that is. It’s probably because of how well it’s designed. I’m honestly surprised they haven’t put a patent on it. It’s very simplistic in design, yet it also looks beautiful. The way the chassis goes upwards when getting access to the components is also clever. The wooden accent is a nice bonus that gives the desktop a clean-looking aesthetic.

I wouldn’t exactly say the Thelio is a “gaming powerhouse” with the components that I have, but it’s definitely going to handle 1080p and 1440p gaming just fine. 1440p should get at least 60 FPS on the highest preset of any game, and you should be getting at least 90 at 1080p. 4K might be pushing the CPU and GPU to their limits. So yeah, if you’re looking to game, the Thelio is a great choice. And I definitely want to see more AMD GPU options from System76 in the future, because that’s the vendor where you’re going to get the best Linux gaming experience.

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TL;DR

The good:

brilliantly-designed chassis that’s simple, yet aesthetically pleasing
replaceable front accent
can handle just about any AAA game that you throw at it at 1080p and 1440p
relatively quiet, even while gaming
most of the individual components are easy to replace, and there’s also step-by-step instructions on S76’s website

The not-so-good:

Pop!_OS has it’s quirks, such as the way it handles AppImages and how software gets installed from the Pop!_Shop
it’s using Intel/NVIDIA, and AMD GPU options are lacking
no HDMI/DisplayPort cables or additional accents are supplied in the package (accents come at an additional charge, but I’m surprised I didn’t get more than just one for review)

Get your Thelio at System76’s website.

Review Thelio sent courtesy of System76. Opinions are of my own.

WinesapOS -- The Ultimate Portable Linux Gaming Distro

Thu, 24 Nov 2022 11:45:13 -0500

WinesapOS has come a long way. Going from being able to play Halo with a friend on Mac, it has now evolved to become much more. It’s now become this thing where you can install the distro on a flash drive or MicroSD card for the Steam Deck, and enjoy an awesome gaming experience, with all the software packages you could possibly need provided right out of the gate. No need to install it to your internal drive. It’s a truly marvelous experience.

Luke Short, creator of the distro, just went over in a blog post the history of the project, and how it has had a “small cult following.” He also goes over the increased reliability of the distro obtaining software packages via wget, for folks with unreliable Internet; the quicker build times; and the superb swiftness of the Intel Optane SSDs.

But there’s more than just the blog post. Luke simultaneously released the stable version of WinesapOS 3.2.0. It contains over four months’ worth of changes since the previous 3.1.1 release. Key features with this update include:

minimal image – this has provided a huge advantage for those who want a more minimal version of WinesapOS, while also slimming the file size down significantly. The minimal image is 7 GB – versus the 29 GB size of the performance and secure images
improved Mac support – quieter fans and Wi-Fi support for older Macs that don’t have the T2 chip
improved controller support – support for Xbox/Xbox 360 gamepads, as well as various third-party controllers
screen rotation support – particularly useful for handhelds like the Steam Deck, where it has that annoying portrait orientation
support for VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion, and VMWare Workstation, with guest tools provided “for the best integration and experience possible”
increased stability – more stable Arch packages, support for “a wide range of hardware,” and automated testing via GitHub Actions

Some other minor updates:

GE-Proton has been upgraded from 7-20 to 7-35
Wine-GE-Proton has been upgraded from 7-16 to 7-31
Pamac has been replaced with bauh, which is evidently “a more stable package manager for non-Manjaro Linux distributions”
Steam Deck client login bug has been fixed
ReplaySorcery and vkBasalt have been added for use with GOverlay
progress bar added for first-time setup and upgrades
Flatseal and GParted has been added
PolyMC has been replaced with Prism Launcher
a number of other smaller adjustments

What can we look forward to with the next update? “Major upgrades!” Such as looking into how to upgrade older versions of WinesapOS, such as 2.2.0, to 3.x. Luke and Thijzer want all of their users “to experience SteamOS 3 on the desktop.” And then implementing the Deck game mode session “for a more console-like experience.”

See the patch notes and download the distro on GitHub. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Play Nintendo Switch Local and Online Multiplayer on Linux/Steam Deck -- Guide

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 11:29:08 -0500

Emulation has come so far. To the point where you can actually play online multiplayer on PC and Steam Deck with Nintendo Switch games, thanks to the LDN version of Ryujinx. A number of benefits come with this, including:

no need to cough up $20/year for a Nintendo Switch Online membership
higher resolutions than 720p/1080p
higher framerates
the ability to use controllers outside of joycons, pro controllers, etc.

So let’s walk through the process of getting this set up. This guide will be using Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mario Kart 8 as examples, but the process is similar to any other game you want to play locally or online with. Requirements are as follows:

jailbroken Switch (the launch edition Switch is the easiest to hack)
a PC or Steam Deck
MicroSD card
a dump of prod.keys from your Switch
a dump of whatever game you want to play multiplayer with
a dump of your Switch’s firmware
Ryujinx LDN build

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I do NOT condone piracy of the Switch files. Don’t bother asking for help if you do so and come across any issues.

1. Have prod.keys, a Dump of your Game, and a Dump of System FW (optionally dump game updates, DLC, and save files)

Note that you will need a prod.keys file, as well as a dump of your game. You’ll also need a dump of your system’s firmware. There’s plenty of tutorials out there to jailbreak your Switch and obtain these files. Boiling Steam is a great example if you’re on Linux desktop. Deck Central has a guide if you’re using the Steam Deck.

After you have a dump of prod.keys and a dump of the game of your choice, copy the prod.keys file to:

~/.config/Ryujinx/system/

Copy the dump of the game and firmware to wherever you want. On Steam Deck you may want to copy the file to ~/Emulation/roms/switch/ if you have EmuDeck set up. You may also want to dump game updates, DLC, and your save file along with these files.

2. Download and Configure Ryujinx LDN

Download the Ryujinx LDN build from Patreon. The latest version at the time of writing this is 3.0.1. This build does not require an active Patreon membership; it is totally free to download. There’s two builds to choose from: the one with the default UI, the other, the new Avalonia UI. I recommend going with the former, as the Avalonia UI has been a bit unstable in my experience. Extract the build anywhere to your desktop/Steam Deck. The executable file should already be marked as executable; if not, do so by right-clicking it and checking the appropriate box, depending on what desktop environment you’re using.

Once the emulator is open, you might be asked whether you want to enable Vulkan or not. In most cases, you are going to want to use Vulkan as the backend. However, I do not recommend using Vulkan on the Steam Deck, as this has been unstable. Use OpenGL on Deck.

If you have prod.keys copied over to the right place, you shouldn’t be getting any more pop-ups. If you do, make sure prod.keys is in the appropriate place (should be ~/.config/Ryujinx/system/, including the Steam Deck).

Now you’re going to want to install your Switch’s firmware. Go to Tools -> Install Firmware -> Install firmware from ZIP or directory, depending on how your FW was dumped.

Locate your dump file, and install when asked.

Let’s configure our user profile. Go to Options -> Manage User Profiles. By default the name is set to “RyuPlayer”. We’re going to want to change that. Change the profile name to your choice. You can optionally set an avatar here; either a custom one or one that’s supplied by the system FW. Profiles can be added as well, if for some reason you needed to do that. Click Close when done.

Now you’re going to want to direct the ROM path to the path of your game dump(s). From the main menu, go to Options -> Settings. Add your ROM filepath by clicking the “Add” button underneath the “Game Directories” section in the General tab.

You’re also probably going to want to configure the controls. Go to the Input tab, and configure the controls to your liking.

In the Graphics tab, adjust the resolution scale depending on what your display’s native resolution is. You may also want to configure the aspect ratio to 16:10 if you’re on Steam Deck.

Finally, let’s configure our multiplayer settings. In the Multiplayer tab, configure the mode to use either “Ryujinx Ldn” (default option selected) or “ldn_mitm”. If you want to play online, select “Ryujinx Ldn”. If you want to play locally, select “ldn_mitm”. Optionally, set up a passphrase if you only want specific people to join your lobby.

Click “Save” to save all of your changes and close the Settings window.

2b. (Optional) Configure Game Updates, DLC, and Save Data

If you want the game to use the latest update and have whatever DLC was installed on your Switch, make sure these files have been dumped and copied over to your desktop/Steam Deck. Right-click the game in the main window on Ryujinx, and click “Manage Title Updates”. Here you can click “Add” to add the update file. Then it should be selected by default after it’s been chosen. Click “Save” to save your changes.

Managing DLC is similar. Right-click the game, click “Manage DLC”, and then “Add” to add your DLC files.

To use your Switch’s save data, right-click the game, and select “Open User Save Directory”. You can then copy over your Switch’s dumped save file to here. When you launch the game, it should pick the save file up automatically. You can use EdiZon on your Switch to backup your saves.

Playing Online

If you want to play against others who aren’t part of the same network as you, make sure “Ryujinx Ldn” is set as the mode in the Multiplayer tab in the Settings menu. Then simply launch the game of your choice, and go to the Local Wireless menu within the game. If anyone else is hosting a game, it should be visible if they haven’t given it a network passphrase. If they did give it a passphrase, you’ll need to enter this code in the Multiplayer tab to see it.

You can check the LDN status page to see who’s playing what game and how many are playing it. If you want people to join your lobby, you can go to the Ryujinx Discord and use the appropriate LDN channel, depending on the game you want to play. For example, if you wanted to play the new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you would go to #ldn-pokemon or #ldn-pokemon-sv-raids.

Playing Locally

If you wanted to connect your desktop, your Steam Deck, and even your actual Switch altogether on the same network, you can do that! On your desktop/Steam Deck, make sure “ldn_mitm” is selected as the mode in the Multiplayer tab.

Launch the game. Open up a lobby within the game’s local wireless mode. If you’re on desktop, for example, your Steam Deck should be able to pick the lobby up, and you should be able to join it.

If you want to connect your actual Switch to the lobby, it’s a little bit more of a process. You will need to have the ldn_mitm submodule loaded on your system. You can download that here. Extract the zip file to the root of your Switch’s MicroSD card. Turn the Switch on with custom firmware enabled. Launch the game. It should pick up the lobby if your desktop/Steam Deck is hosting one, so long as the devices are connected to the same network.

Need Help?

Join the Ryujinx Discord and go to #support.

That should be it for this guide. Might have a video soon.

Valve Introduces Proton Next

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 22:17:46 -0500

Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned on Twitter that the company has introduced a “new Proton flavor,” which is known as Proton Next. This will be available “whenever there is a new major stable update of Proton to test.” With this new “flavor,” Proton 7.0-5 is now available for testing.

The following titles are now playable with this release:

Rift
Unravel 2
Airborne Kingdom
Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull
Re-Volt
Aspire: Ina’s Tale
Battle Realms: Zen Edition
Deathsmiles II
Primal Carnage: Extinction
Pico Park Classic Edition
Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind
Darkstar One
Indiana Jones and the Emperor Tomb
Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition

Fixes are as follows:

Fix Batman: Arkham City GOTY launching in the background on Steam Deck when set to fullscreen.
Fix Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered displaying dialog about outdated drivers on AMD systems.
Fix Final Fantasy IV (3D Remake) having no audio.
Fix Return to Monkey Island not reacting to mouse clicks after a recent game update.
Fix upsidedown videos in VRChat and many other games.
Fix Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies and Multiplayer hanging on exit.
Fix Bail or Jail crashing when opening the Terms of Serivce.
Improve GTA V situation with not loading textures.
Fix Red Dead Redemption 2 crashing after a recent game update.
Fix Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher functionality after game update.
Fix cutscene stutter in Disgaea 5.
Fix Thrustmaster HOTAS having non-functional dial in Elite Dangerous.
Fix Planet Zoo randomly crashing.
Fix SCP: Secret Labratory not being playable after a recent game update (again).
Fix Tekken 7 crashing at launch.
Fix Armello hanging on exit.
Fix Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization freezing after the tutorial.
Fix Space Engineers intro video not playing correctly.
Fix Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen videos not playing correctly.

Other:

Implement network video support for VRChat.
Update dxvk to v1.10.3-28-ge3daa699.

More or less the same update back when it was a release candidate. The only differences I’m seeing, as far as additions, are:

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is playable with this release
Batman: Arkham City Steam Deck fix has been added to this release
several game-specific fixes have been added to this release

Things that have been removed include:

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and ToGather:Island is not on the playable list
OpenXR compatibility with Blacktop Hoops is no longer available
network video support for The Good Life is no longer present

To use Proton Next, it’s now available in the dropdown menu when selecting what Proton version to use for a game, rather than having to select the release-candidate beta.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Steam Deck Client Beta Fixes Remote Play, Adds New Gyro Activation Features (Plus SteamOS Update Fixes Resident Evil 4)

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 23:21:30 -0500

Today’s Steam Deck client update (beta) adds fixes for both Steam Input and Remote Play. Additionally, Left and Right Stick Deflection has been added as an option for gyro activation. Patch notes are as follows:

Steam Input

Fixed controllers being treated as Xbox One controllers by default when defining their layout
Fixed the L3/R3 buttons not being detected for some third party PS3 controllers
Added Left and Right Stick Deflection as an option for Gyro Activation Buttons. Stick deflection is no longer considered a part of “Touch” (Cap Sense) on SteamDeck.

Remote Play

Fixed getting the wrong personalization (colors, etc.) for streaming PS4 controllers
Fixed streaming Bluetooth controllers not turning off

On top of this, SteamOS (preview) also got a slightly more evil update. A preview channel regression preventing Resident Evil 4 from launching has now been fixed.

Patch notes can also be seen here and here.

ChimeraOS 37 Upgrades to PipeWire, Increases Responsiveness of Chimera Web App

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 22:34:28 -0500

New update for the awesome couch-oriented gaming distro ChimeraOS has come upon us. Included in this update:

switch from PulseAudio to PipeWire
Chimera web app has increased responsiveness
desktop mode (which was introduced with version 35) adds support for additional languages, adds “Disks” and “Archive Manager” tools, and switches “Terminal” to “Console”

Several fixes have been made:

fixed non-Steam shortcut issues caused by game database update failures
fixed system update failures when resuming downloads
fixed restarting Steam from the Chimera web app with Gamepad/Deck UI

Some features from the Chimera web app are now being deprecated “as part of the phasing out of Big Picture Mode”:

virtual keyboard
performance overlay/MangoHud toggle and settings
Steam overlay toggle
compositor/window mode toggle

Patch notes can also be seen on GitHub. I have a few interviews with the ChimeraOS developers that you may be interested in:

Thelio Desktop by System76 Now Has Customizable Accent

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 21:45:08 -0500

Back in September, System76 unveiled their newly-designed Thelio desktops, with swappable front accents. There were a few designs to choose from, but now it’s possible to create your own. The idea was inspired by GloriousEggroll’s customized Thelio design.

Today, System76 introduces the Thelio Maker Accent, a DIY accent for users to add their own personal spin to their PC. A blank aluminum slate, users are free to paint, etch, gloss, or adhere objects to.

Priced at $15, the Maker Accent kit comes with one aluminum panel, one aluminum test panel, and one aluminum carrier. A guide for customizing your accent can be found on System76’s website. I’d love to make a Sonic-inspired one!

Get your Thelio here. I should have the Thelio review out on Friday.

Ubisoft Heading Back to Steam

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 14:22:45 -0500

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said back in July that if the Steam Deck is “big,” Ubisoft might consider bringing more of their games over to Steam, rather than resorting to their own Ubisoft Connect client. Considering that Valve has sold at least one million units (that was back in the beginning of October; they’ve probably sold far more than that now), and the rapid growth and popularity of the device, it seems like Ubisoft has finally acted on their wait-and-see approach.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is coming to Steam on December 6th, which was originally an exclusive to Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store back in 2020. Not just this game; the city builder Anno 1800 will be making a return, as well as the 3v3 sports game Roller Champions, though we don’t know exactly when either of these titles will be coming.

“We’re constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are, while providing a consistent player ecosystem through Ubisoft Connect,” a Ubisoft spokespeson told Eurogamer. “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800 and Roller Champions are among the Ubisoft titles that will be releasing on Steam.”

Which is great news for us. It means we have one less launcher to deal with. And it benefits not just those of us who have a Deck, but anyone who uses a desktop gaming PC.

Cover image credit: Ubisoft

ProtonUp-Qt 2.7.6 Improves Lutris Game Detection and the Installation of SteamTinkerLaunch

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 12:43:56 -0500

The popular ProtonUp-Qt application for easily obtaining the latest version of GE-Proton (as well as GE-Wine for Lutris, etc.) has been updated. These changes come from sonic2kk, the person who made modding Sonic Frontiers possible on Linux with SteamTinkerLaunch. Changes are as follows:

Fixed downloading DXVK 2.0 for Lutris
Improvements when installing SteamTinkerLaunch using the ProtonUp-Qt Flatpak
Reworked the Info dialog
Improved the Lutris game detection

Get the release on GitHub. See my guide for getting ProtonUp-Qt set up on your Steam Deck or Linux desktop.

Ryujinx LDN 3 Released, Adds Connectivity Support to CFW Switches, Improved Performance for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 23:07:03 -0500

I can’t help but chuckle. The newly released Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is apparently suffering from framerate issues.

A first-party game. Having framerate issues on native hardware.

Good thing we’ve got emulation. Ryujinx is a great choice. In fact, if you want to play online multiplayer on Linux/Windows with Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, it’s possible thanks to the LDN build. We’ve got quite a few goodies in store here with the new 3.0 update. We’ve got improved performance, particularly with the new Pokémon game; Splatoon 3 is now playable on AMD GPUs; and interconnectivity with Linux/Windows and actual Nintendo Switch consoles that have custom firmware is now possible.

Image credit: MutantAura

Key features are as follows:

ldn_mitm support for connectivity with CFW Nintendo Switch consoles.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet no longer have a white/yellow filter in gameplay.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet will have greatly improved performance.
Splatoon 3 is now playable on AMD GPUs on Windows and Linux.
Splatoon 3 scoring and other gameplay elements are no longer affected by resolution scaling.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons no longer requires a save file to avoid crashing on the intro.
Pokémon Sword & Shield have improved performance when using Vulkan.
General performance and stability improvements for most other titles.

Additionally, if you want, you can use Ryujinx’s new Avalonia UI:

Awesome if you want an interface that’s a little more modern-looking.

See the Ryujinx blog post for more info. Download the build on Patreon (membership not required).

Cover image credit: Ryujinx team

Weekly News Recap (Portal DXVK 2.0 Update, Unreal Engine 5.1, DS4 Getting Some Love)

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 16:25:33 -0500

Steam Deck

stable client update adds QR code login, updated Big Picture video, and tons of fixes
the TDP isn’t accurate
I reviewed the JSAUX case – it’s quite nice
GOL has a guide on fixing the EA app

Hardware

Thelio Major gets case redesign with removable I/O backplate and stronger GPU brace
might be worth picking up an Intel Optane SSD while they’re in stock
DS4 getting official support with kernel 6.2
fan controller driver for OneXPlayer Mini PRO/AOKZOE is now available
kernel 6.2 getting sensor driver for OneXPlayer AMD

Native Games

Portal series gets DXVK 2.0 upgrade – likely in preparation for the RTX reshade

Software Updates

Proton Experimental 2022.11.16 adds support for two new games and adds fixes for others
Cemu 2.0-16 adds online features to Linux. 2.0-17 saves 10.7 MB of “useless debug info,” fixes two if statements, fixes checking space using non-existing folder, downloads BOSS files if they’re not present, and implements CPU/RAM overlay
Bottles 2022.11.14 adds QoL improvements and fixes
WinesapOS 3.2.0 RC adds Prism Launcher and improves Xbox controller support
ProtonUp-Qt 2.7.5 adds STL improvements, flatpak improvements, adds traditional Chinese translation, and “various small changes” to enhance the experience of the app
Unreal Engine 5.1 adds plenty of Linux-specific features and fixes
Godot 4 gets Movie Maker mode
box64 0.2.0 updates to DXVK 2.0 and plenty of other changes

Other

I did a retrospective on (what I think) is the greatest game of all time
I have a guide for adding mods to Sonic Frontiers
YoYo Games open-sources their GameMaker HTML5 runtime

Cover image credit: Godot

Portal Series Gets Update -- RTX Reshade Coming Soon?

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 12:27:52 -0500

On Friday, both Portal and Portal 2 got an update. Both games upgraded to DXVK version 2.0. DXVK 2.0 brought with it memory management improvement, bug fixes, reduced shader compilation stutter, and plenty of other improvements. Portal 2, in addition to getting the DXVK update, also “fixed some controller input bugs.”

While it may seem like a small update, now my speculation gears are flowing. Portal with RTX is “coming soon”; sometime this month, but no word on what day. I had originally thought it was going to be on the 16th, since that was the same date the RTX 4080 launched, but that’s come and gone. Well, worse case scenario we’ll have to wait 10 days at most. I would say “Valve time” but since NVIDIA is primarily the one working on the ray tracing support, I guess it’s up to them when they want to release it. Since Valve rarely updates their games, to see this update is certainly a step in the right direction when it comes to supporting ray tracing.

See the patch notes for Portal and Portal 2 here and here.

Cover image credit: Valve/NVIDIA Lightspeed Studios

Fan Controller Driver for OneXPlayer Mini PRO and AOKZOE Now Available

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 23:29:44 -0500

Leave it up to the keyboard tap dancer Joaquín Ignacio Aramendía (Samsagax) to add fan controller functionality to devices outside of the OneXPlayer Mini. In addition to the Mini, the Mini PRO is now also supported. The AOKZOE has support as well! Both devices are powered by the Ryzen 6800U. Still no news on Intel-based devices.

The patch has been submitted for review. In the meantime, if you own either of these devices, you can compile the driver from source. Arch users have the advantage of the AUR package.

Also, be sure to check out the interview that I had with Joaquín and one of the other ChimeraOS developers!

Metroid Prime -- The Greatest Game of All Time

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 10:42:57 -0500

Well, the day has already come upon us. That is, the 20th anniversary of my favorite game of all time. No, I’m not talking about Smash Brothers, despite my passion for that game. Smash gets a lot of respect in its own ways. But I’m actually referring to Metroid Prime. A game that, as many people can attest to, has helped them to deal with dark or otherwise tough times. The game that helped them to cope with life’s challenges. A podcaster who I follow recently talked about how Prime helped him to cope with the loss of his mother, rather than resorting to drugs or alcohol.

That’s deep, man. And while I can’t say I’ve used the game as a coping mechanism, I can certainly see how it’s helped people in many ways, mentally and emotionally. That’s how much of an impact Metroid Prime has on fans of the Metroid series. It’s one of those games where you can just sit at the title screen for ten minutes without jumping into the game, because the music is that incredible. The fact that Retro Studios managed to successfully translate the traditional, 2D side-scrolling Metroid games of the past into 3D and in first-person is a whole different topic in of itself.

While this might not have anything to do with Linux directly, I simply can’t go about my daily tasks without talking about the game that has had such a profound impact on not just me, but many, many others.

I remember my older brother getting a copy of the game. I was almost eight at the time. Thus was my introduction to the Metroid series. I played it, and remember the haunting experience that I got playing through the Frigate Orpheon level. The eerie music, the feeling of suspense as Samus travels along this ship strewn with space pirates, some of which were limping and on their last breath.

Then getting to the boss, the parasite queen. Then defeating it, then that intense emergency evacuation music that shortly followed. It certainly caught my attention, but admittedly, as an eight-year-old, I was terrified.

Still, I kept playing. I felt a measure of relief when things calmed down after Samus lands her ship on Tallon IV. The soothing music combined with the rain. All of the first 15 minutes of gameplay follows the same suit as Super Metroid: explore a level, find a boss, evacuate the area immediately, then the calm after the storm.

And it’s still a game I play to this day. Not every day, but every once in a while. Just to re-live the epic story. All subtly told without these huge cutscenes getting in your way. Nothing to really show off. No talking either. As one artist that I interviewed put it, “Show! Don’t Tell.” It must have been a miraculous engineering effort just to get the game to render at a smooth 60 FPS, even during cutscenes, on a 485 MHz CPU and just 43 MB of RAM. And it’s a game you look back on and you’re like, “How on earth did they get those graphics so good?”

And the music too. The soundtrack was composed by Kenji Yamamoto. He was reported as saying it was made “to satisfy old Metroid fans. It’s like a present for them.” This is due to the tracks containing samples from the previous games in the series. For instance, Magmoor Caverns’ theme is based on Lower Norfair from Super Metroid. Tallon IV’s theme is a reinterpretation of Brinstar from Metroid. There’s a beautiful variety as well. Please listen to Phendrana Drift’s theme if you haven’t. It’s probably the most calming, beautiful track I’ve ever listened to.

It’s just so hard to find any flaws with Prime. If I wanted to, this post could easily be four or five times the length that it is, with me praising every little aspect of it. But, I’d rather not bore you with the minute details.

Development

Super Metroid released to the world in 1994. Some folks, to this day, refer to it as the best game of all time. But many years had passed without a Metroid game. There wouldn’t be a sequel during the Nintendo 64 era; producer Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in an interview with IGN that Nintendo “couldn’t come up with any concrete ideas…at that time.” Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto had apparently mentioned somewhere that he couldn’t imagine how the N64 gamepad could be used to control Samus. When a third-party company was asked to make the game, the developers behind the company evidently declined because they thought they couldn’t equal Super Metroid.

So in comes Retro Studios, formerly known as Iguana Entertainment. I won’t get too much into the history of this company, but it’s certainly worth looking into if you have the time. The company was working on four prototype games for the GameCube. But the studio was collapsing – none of their prototypes were making any progress. Massive layoffs followed. Miyamoto visited the office in Austin, Texas in 2000. The only thing that kept Retro alive at that time was their first-person shooter engine. Somehow, Miyamoto had faith that Retro could turn around with this engine, and he entrusted them with the Metroid license. He suggested them to work on Prime. An American-based studio working with Japanese developers – imagine that. Retro cancelled all four of their prototype games in favor of working on this. The rest is history.

Believe me, despite being given the license to work on a Nintendo IP, you would not want to have been involved in the crunch during development. Ever work 80-100 hour weeks? That’s what happened during the last nine months of development. “Once we hit the Metroid cycle, I think it took us almost six months to do the first level that Nintendo approved, then we had less than a year to do the rest of the game,” former senior artist James Dargie says. Another developer was quoted as saying, “I think it was nine to 10 months of over time of at least minimum 12-hour days. I worked 48 hours straight on that project without sleeping. It was the worst.” Along with scrapping most of the work they had already done when they first used a third-person perspective. And scrapping the work for implementing Kraid. Now American developers would get a small taste of the Japanese work culture. “We were just all beat down. We were just abused dogs…that last year of development was just incredibly awful.”

Fortunately things would turn around for the better when Steve Barcia was replaced with Michael Kelbaugh in 2003. According to Polygon’s interview he “brought a better working environment, more stability.”

Reception

Despite fans criticizing the first couple of trailers that were shown for the game, thinking that Nintendo/Retro couldn’t revive the Metroid series in the same light that Super Metroid did, look at where the game is today. It has a Metacritic score of 97. 97!! It’s one of the highest-rated games on the site! The fact that people are still talking about this game 20 years later, including myself, indicates it has left a powerful impact on gamers around the world. It’s currently the sixth best-selling GameCube game, selling 2.84 million copies.

Metroid Prime Randomizer

You might have played Prime quite a few times. But if you haven’t tried, you should give Randovania a shot. Using this tool will shuffle all the items in the game, forcing you to think in new ways to get to the next area. It’s a great way to get a fresh experience every time you play.

The great news: it’s natively available for Linux!

Metroid Prime Remastered

There’s an unofficial remaster that you can try out. This not only increases the graphics quality, but it also allows keyboard and mouse controls, dual-stick gamepad support, adjustable FoV, and customizable HUD elements and suit variations.

Getting it to run on Linux is a bit of a PITA. Therefore, I have a guide for getting it to work nicely on Steam Deck. The great news is you can actually use this in conjunction with the randomizer.

Also, be sure to check out the interview that I had with the devs/artists last month.

A Thank You to All Involved

Time will fail me if I go on to relate the work that it took to get the morph ball working properly, getting the different visors to look and behave the way that they do, and just…so much other stuff that has given this game its legendary reputation. Retro Studios, I can’t thank you enough from the bottom of my heart for getting through that ridiculous crunch, losing sleep time, losing time with family, just to get this game out. Words alone can’t describe my gratitude for Prime. It’s certainly my go-to whenever tough times arise.

Thanks also go to various contributors: the Dolphin developers, for making emulation of this game possible on Linux; the devs behind Metaforce, for reverse-engineering the game to allow it to be played natively on Linux, without the need for an emulation layer; the devs who work on Randovania, for giving us a fresh experience every time we play Prime; and the devs/artists who work on Metroid Prime Remastered, for making an already great-looking game even greater. Notice that all of these projects are open-source!

More thanks go to people like Kiwi Talkz, who has interviewed various ex-Retro Studios employees, and the various fan sites like Shinesparkers for keeping us up-to-date on all things Metroid. Certainly Did You Know Gaming also deserves credit for their discoveries and interviews, as well as Matt McMuscles for covering “Metroid Prime - What Happened?” I’m probably missing quite a few others; feel free to let me know who I’m forgetting to mention.

Proton Experimental Adds Support for Two New Games, Fix for Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 10:25:42 -0500

This one slipped under the radar, but better to cover it late rather than never, I guess. Wednesday’s update to Proton Experimental enables support for two additional titles: NinNinDays2 and King under the Mountain. Additionally, we got fixes for Halo Infinite, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Seperra Core, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Sin of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII launcher, and Project CARS 2:

Fix Halo Infinite not starting after a recent game update.
Fix Halo Infinite hanging at multiplayer match start when game window is not focused.
Fix friend invite to Fireteam lobby not working in Halo Infinite.
Fix Spyro Reignited Trilogy playing intro video in a wrong language.
Fix Seperra Core hanging on redistributables installation.
Fix multiple languages not rendering correctly in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion.
Fix Korean not being rendered correctly in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII launcher.
Fix multiple monitor support in Project Cars 2.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator not starting after a recent game update.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator not displaying live traffic.
Fix Microsoft Flight Simulator crashing when starting next to big cities.

See the patch notes on GitHub.

Cover image credit: Rocket Jump Technology

Thelio Major Desktop by System76 Gets Case Redesign

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 11:20:38 -0500

The Thelio Major by System76 is their “most powerful gaming system, placing some of the largest GPUs on the market in a machine engineered for quiet, effective cooling.” Today, the case gets a redesign. First, the I/O shield on the back is now removable. This allows the user to replace the motherboard with a different one if they so desire. Though this is for the Major, “other Thelio models” should get this feature as well in the future.

Secondly, the upper chassis has been re-inforced. Now it has a “much stronger GPU brace.” Adam Balla told me in a call that the RTX 40-series is something like four pounds in weight, so this stronger brace is a good idea. There’s also “bead rolling” to the manufacturing process, adding overall stability to holding the parts inside the Thelio.

Alex Timmerman from System76 explains in a video these changes, so you can look at that to get a better visual idea.

Good news is I will actually be getting a review unit soon, with a Ryzen 7000-series APU and a RTX 40-series GPU (I think it will be the 4090). So stay tuned for that!

In the meantime you can buy yours on sale for $2,499. Shipping starts November 28th.

Steam Deck Client Stable Fixes Delay When Running a Game Offline, Adds QR Code Login (And Tons of Other Features/Improvements)

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 22:54:20 -0500

Now that a new Steam Deck client update has reached the stable branch, it has incorporated all the changes from the beta branch since October 18th. This is almost a month’s worth of changes, including quicker startup times if you have a large library of games, reduced size of the Steam client, QR code functionality when logging into your Steam account, gyro enabling for gamepads that don’t support capacitive touch, Nintendo-style button layouts, updated Desktop controller layout, and tons of other features, fixes, and improvements. This update also contains the New Big Picture Mode – you’ll need to run Steam in the terminal with -gamepadui or -newbigpicture to be able to use it.

Check out the new Big Picture Mode video:

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Full patch notes are as follows:

General

Reduced client startup times for users with large game libraries
Fixed issue where launching a game would take longer to start if there was no network connection.
Fixed VR flags not showing up in app details for some games
Fixed downloads page crashing when starting in offline mode
Downloads page now properly responds to online/offline status
Collections view can now show more than two rows of collections and allow scrolling
Reduced size of Steam client download
Fixed bluetooth failing to turn on in gaming mode if it was disabled in desktop mode
When installing a game always show the install location picker if there is more than one library folder, and automatically focus the default library folder when the dialog shows up
Added error dialog for when the user clicks on a mailto link
Fixed the ‘Cancel’ button in the wifi password dialogue for a new connection causing the current network to disconnect
Re-worked “Gifts Pending” page to be gamepad navigable

Docked Mode

Fixed incorrect size of Main Menu in docked mode with 4k displays
Virtual Keyboard now has a maximum width, so that it doesn’t stretch to an unusable size on large screens
Set scale for startup movies so that the top and bottom of the movie are cropped for 16:9 aspect ratio

Desktop Mode

Fixed issue preventing the Virtual Keyboard from accessing the clipboard and being unable to perform paste operations
Center the popup controller configurator window when viewing controller layout
Fixed circular download progress indicator being broken in game entry list

Sign In

Added login flow that supports new QR code functionality
Fix a case where if the sign-in UI had cached credentials which had become invalid, it could get stuck and not accept valid credentials thereafter
Fixed an edge case in handling of invalid cached credentials affecting reauthentication

Steam Input

Gyro Enabling: The “Touch” option is now available to controllers which do not have capacitive touch sensors - Moving joysticks out of their deadzone now counts as a “Touch”.
All controller types can each now optionally choose to use a Nintendo-style layout. This flips the A and B button and X and Y button universally in Steam and in games.
The Xbox extended features driver has been updated for Windows 11
Fixed hang when the Amazon Luna controller rumbles on macOS
Fixed issue with the touch binding in As Mouse mode releasing before the end of a swipe
Fixed doubled input for Nintendo Joy-Cons controllers
Gyro Yaw & Roll Combined now allows negative contribution values from both sources.
FlickStick output can now be Inverted, and can be sent to X or Y Mouse axis.
Fix for FlickStick turning when exiting an overlay layer with the stick still thrown.
Desktop Controller Layout Now defaults to a desktop friendly set of controls. Long-Pressing Menu Button will toggle back and forth to a Gamepad friendly layout.
Updated Steam Controller LB and RB button images

Remote Play

Fixed glyphs for third party Nintendo controllers while streaming

New Big Picture Mode

Updated Big Picture is now available for testing. You can read more about it in this blog post. Modify your Steam client shortcut and add -gamepadui on the command-line to automatically start Steam in the new Big Picture Mode. Alternatively, pass -newbigpicture to start in Desktop mode and have access to the new Big Picture Mode at any time.

Additionally, it was apparently updated again to fix a browser crash in Desktop Mode.

Patch notes can also be seen on Steam. On a side note, the SteamOS 3.4 beta also got updated to fix the OSK with two languages and add a workaround “for an underlying Steam/Proton issue causing some games…to fail to launch.”

Enhance Your Sonic Frontiers Experience with Mods

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 14:24:07 -0500

UPDATE (12/27/2022): updated Steam Deck guide is available!

UPDATE (12/5/2022): video guide is up if you need it!

Sonic Frontiers may have an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam, but there are quite a few things we can do to make the gameplay experience even better. Such as:

disable letterboxing during cutscenes
unlocking framerate during cutscenes
4K video playback
skipping intro video
decreasing graphics quality for getting smoother gameplay on NVIDIA (or other low-end hardware including the Steam Deck)
making speed upgrades faster
reducing hitstop for more fluent gameplay
improved physics for Cyber Space levels
removing the cutscene when unlocking a portion of the map
increased difficulty
changing how Sonic looks
and plenty of other enhancements

With all these mods you could practically get a fresh new session in after beating the game. So let’s go over how to get mods running. This guide will cover both Linux desktop as well as the Steam Deck.

As always, small disclaimer that I’m not responsible if the Denuvo DRM triggers while you’re doing this. So far I haven’t had any issues, but I needed to throw that out there.

1. Get SteamTinkerLaunch

To mod Sonic Frontiers on Linux, we’ll need to use Hedge Mod Manager (HMM). This tool allows us to mod any game that uses the Hedgehog Engine, which is what Sonic Frontiers uses. Because it’s only available on Windows, we have to use Wine to run it. SteamTinkerLaunch (STL) makes this easy for us. If you’re not aware of STL, it’s basically the Swiss army knife when it comes to managing Windows-based games on Linux. See the article from Boiling Steam for more info.

Note that we’ll need to compile the latest git version of STL in order to use HMM. The latest 11.11 release won’t support this. If you’re on Arch, you can install steamtinkerlaunch-git. On Ubuntu-based distros, you can use Pacstall. This is basically the AUR-equivalent for Ubuntu-based distros. After that’s installed, you can install with:

pacstall -I steamtinkerlaunch-git

On Steam Deck, download the latest commit from the main GitHub page, clicking the green “Code” button, then selecting “Download ZIP”. Extract the zip file somewhere convenient. Open a terminal in the same location where the STL executable is located.

Run this to add STL as a compatibility tool in Steam (this step is optional; useful if you want to use STL for games outside of Sonic Frontiers):

steamtinkerlaunch compat add (or ./steamtinkerlaunch compat add if you’re on Deck)

2. Install Winetricks and Ensure It’s Up-to-Date (on Desktop)

If you’re on desktop, make sure Winetricks is installed. Installing this is dependent on the distro you’re using. Note that STL may have installed this for you already. Check your Winetricks version with:

winetricks --version

In order to use HMM with STL, your version will need to be 20220411-next or higher.

If you don’t have this version, update to the latest one with:

sudo winetricks --self-update

Note that if you’re on Deck, this step isn’t necessary; STL downloads and installs Winetricks for any app that needs it.

3. Run Hedge Mod Manager

Once STL is installed and you have the latest version of Winetricks installed, you can download and run HMM with:

steamtinkerlaunch hmm start nightly (or ./steamtinkerlaunch hmm start nightly if you’re on Deck)

You will need to use the nightly release; the latest stable release at the time of writing this does not support Sonic Frontiers. This will take quite a while; up to 10 minutes when run for the first time.

If everything went well HMM should open up:

Here’s some codes that I would recommend enabling:

disable framerate limiter on cutscenes
disable guardian interactions
disable in-game letterboxing
disable power boost cutscene
disable shadows (for NVIDIA or low-powered hardware)
fix resolution resetting on launch
hide skip button in cutscenes

I’m noticing that just about every day there’s a new code that gets added – you may see a button that says, “Update Community Codes”. Click this to get more codes. After you’re done checking off codes, click “Save” to save your changes.

4. Get Mods

For mods, we’ll have to download them. You can find most of these over on GameBanana. Supposedly the one-click install button works for the maintainer of STL, but it doesn’t work in my case. So pick a mod, and manually download it. Some mods I’d recommend:

Colourful Frontiers – re-textures the button and skill tree icons to a more vibrant color. Note that this mod needs to get installed manually by copying over the file to the game’s install directory. Instructions are provided on the mod page
Showin’s Momentum Tweaks – “alters Sonic’s physics to be much more momentum-based.”
Impossible Difficulty – as the mod title says, this is useful if you want a challenge. Decreased damage output, decreased parry window, faster drain boost, buffed enemies, etc.
Buffed Titan Fights
No Curscene After Challenges – removes the cutscene that’s played every time you finish a challenge. Speeds up gameplay quite nicely
Potato Low End Foliage – backports the foliage from the Switch version, making gameplay more smooth on low-end PCs
Improved Physics – “tweaks both cyberspace and open-zone physics to have momentum and overall a better flow to gameplay.”
Elder Koco Fixed – this makes upgrading Sonic’s speed a much faster process
Halved & No Hitstop – “make the combat feel more flowing and a bit less sluggish, as well as make the homing attack chains feel more responsive.”

Of course, should you want to change Sonic’s model, you can do that as well, from Silver to Minecraft Sonic to Amy to Blaze to Excalibur and everything in-between. You may even want to try out a low-poly model if it helps at all with your framerate.

After mods have been downloaded, extract them to a convenient location. With HMM still open, go to the Mods tab. Click “Add Mod”. Select “Installing from a folder” and click OK.

Wine’s file manager will open. Select “/” to select your Linux drive. In my case I have mods placed in:

Z:~\Desktop\frontiers_mods\

Select “Open”. The mods list should now be populated in HMM. There should also be a Mods folder inside of the game’s install directory with all the mods you just added.

Check whatever mods you want to enable. Some mods may have a cog icon that isn’t greyed out. If you click this, you can customize the settings for that mod. You can see here I can customize the settings for the titan boss fights and choose whether I want them buffed or normal.

Once you’re done checking off your mods, click “Save”.

5. See Your Mods in Action

If you want, you can click “Save and Play” to launch Sonic Frontiers with the mods/codes enabled. But you can also just launch Sonic Frontiers directly from Steam and it should also pick these up.

Oh, and here’s a little bonus. If you want to skip the intro video whenever you start up the game, you can either delete or rename sonicteam_logo.usm and sonicteam_logo_4k.usm. These files are found in /image/x64/raw/movie/ in the game’s install directory.

6. (Optional) Make a Desktop Icon for HMM for Quick Access – Desktop Only

If you’d rather not run steamtinkerlaunch hmm start nightly in the terminal every time you want to open up HMM, you can add a desktop shortcut. Open a text editor and paste this in:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=steamtinkerlaunch hmm start nightly
Name=Hedge Mod Manager
Icon=/path/to/icon

You can use something like this as the icon. Save it somewhere on your hard drive. Then point Icon to the file path of this picture. Save the text file to your desktop and make sure to give it a .desktop extension. On Pop!_OS, you’ll need to right-click the desktop file and select “Allow Launching” to make it an executable. On other distros, this step will probably differ. You’ll probably need to mark it as executable in the file properties menu.

Video coming soon?

Your Steam Deck's TDP Isn't Accurate

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 14:14:02 -0500

Something interesting that I came across yesterday. YouTuber The Phawx recently posted a video going over the Deck’s TDP. Turns out it’s not completely accurate. By comparing the Deck with the GPD Win Max 2 (prototype), he discovered both devices are in “absolute lockstep” – if the Deck’s TDP is set to 15 watts, for example, it will actually use 28 watts. If it’s set to five watts, it will actually use 12.5 W at full brightness. At medium brightness, it will use 11.5 W.

LPDDR5 is not the problem – even with the GPD Win Max 2 having slightly faster RAM than the Deck, it turns out that isn’t the factor when it comes to power differences. The Phawx explains in the video why that’s the case.

The Phawx uses the GPD Win Max 2 production model. At 15 W TDP, it’s using about 3 W less at 25 W at full brightness. So what changed?

Well, let’s have a look at the Deck’s sensor data. The Phawx set the TDP cap to 15 W. But if you notice in the video, the actual wattage used is wildly fluctuating. Sometimes it’s using less than 15 W, other times it’s going over. This has to do with “how AMD has different modes to calculate TDP.”

The Phawx collects tens of thousands of samples of the wattage use. This graph puts it together nicely. So when the Deck is set to 15 W, it’s actually using that number only 11% of the time. It’s using 19 W 9.2% of the time. It uses 11 W 7.2% of the time. You get the idea. 50% of the time, the Deck is using more than 15 W. The other half of the time, it’s using less. So the TDP is technically using 15 watts on average, but still flucuates all over the place. It’s the same story for the Win Max 2 prototype.

Now let’s compare it to the production model of the GPD Win Max 2. The fluctuation is a lot more stable here – at 15 W TDP, the Win Max 2 is using 15 W about 15% of the time, and 14 W 17% of the time. Combine these together, the Win Max 2 uses 14 and 15 W over 30% of the time. About 75% of the time, it’s using 15 W or less. Only 25% of the time does it use more than 15 W. The data still fluctuates a lot here, but the production model is far more accurate to the TDP limit than either the prototype or the Deck.

The difference in wattage used between the production Win Max 2 and the prototype/Deck is because AMD uses two different profiles to determine TDP. Because of these profiles, the prototype scores some higher numbers when benchmarking Unigine than the production model, since it uses higher wattage on average.

What should Valve do about this? “Absolutely nothing,” The Phawx responds. 15 W TDP is in reality 19 W “to what we’re all used to,” meaning you’re getting “more bang for your buck.” You’re getting more power with AMD’s profile on Deck.

I don’t know if I made any sense here, but you can watch The Phawx’s video for more details.

TL;DR when setting the TDP limit on your Deck, the wattage used actually fluctuates a lot.

All images used in this article are credit of The Phawx.

Cemu Adds Online Features to Linux

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 14:01:16 -0500

Cemu – the Wii U emulator that recently went open-source while at the same time adding support for Linux – recently received a commit to add online features for the Linux version. Going by the pull request, it seems like there was very little back and forth to it. One of the developers commented, “Looks good to me. No regressions encountered while testing on Windows.” As such, the PR has been merged into the main branch and already available for download.

Now that Cemu provides an AppImage, it should be easier than ever to get Wii U emulation up and running on Linux, and now it’s cross-compatible with the Windows build as far as online capabilities. See the commit for more info.

Intel Optane SSDs Are On Sale!

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 13:23:10 -0500

A few weeks ago I had talked about Intel’s Optane SSD (the 905p in particular). It’s a ridiculously fast SSD – perfect for reducing the loading time in your games (twice as fast than traditional PCIe NVMe x4 in some cases). Both the 905p and P1600X are back in stock on Newegg:

905p, 960 GB, $399.99 (these use a U.2 connection, you’ll need to use the included M.2 adapter if your power supply doesn’t have the necessary connector type)

If you’re looking for something a little less expensive (P1600X uses M.2):

P1600X, 118 GB, $75.99
P1600X, 58 GB, $39.99

Might be worth picking one up before they sell out! (Again, Intel isn’t sponsoring me.) And stay tuned for a review soon.

Steam Deck Client Stable Adds New Startup Movie for Big Picture Mode, Fixes Trackpad Typing Scale

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 13:12:37 -0500

Those of you on the Stable branch on Deck should have received an update. A new startup movie has been added for BPM, and many issues have been fixed, including the standalone controller configurator showing at the incorrect browser scale. Patch notes are as follows:

General

Fixed Steam desktop client browser scaling changing when New Big Picture Mode keyboard or controller configurator are opened

New Big Picture Mode

Added new startup movie for Big Picture Mode (I tried to get a screenshot of this; the new movie isn’t showing up for me)
Fixed issue with Desktop version of Remote Play Together dialogs being displayed while in Big Picture Mode
Re-worked “Gifts Pending” page to be gamepad navigable
Fixed trackpad typing scale in standalone keyboard in Desktop mode
Fixed issue where the Main Menu was visible after exiting, then re-entering Big Picture Mode
Fixed standalone controller configurator showing at the incorrect browser scale
Stopped showing Steam Deck interstitial screens when in Desktop mode

Steam Input

Fixed issue with the touch binding in As Mouse mode releasing before the end of a swipe

Patch notes are also on Steam.

Bottles 2022.11.14 Adds Quality-of-Life Improvements, Fixes DLSS

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 15:33:42 -0500

Today’s update to Bottles – an easy way of running Windows-based applications on Linux – fixes GameScope, DLSS, updates translations, rewrites the vkBasalt frontend, and adds other QoL improvements. Patch notes are as follows:

Backend:

Fix Gamescope arguments by @jntesteves
Fix DLSS by @cyberphantom52
Don’t use d3d10 & d3d10_1 dll’s from dxvk by @Blisto91

Frontend:

Improve bottle details view by @cyberphantom52
Redesign details view by @cyberphantom52
Add grade tooltips by @TheEvilSkeleton
QoL improvements by @TheEvilSkeleton
Rewrite vkBasalt frontend by @TheEvilSkeleton
Minor consistency fixes by @TheEvilSkeleton
Minor improvements for drive selection by @TheEvilSkeleton

Fixes:

cli: Fix ignored name when adding program via CLI by @zphensley42
NVAPI hotfix by @cyberphantom52
Header Capitalization and localization fixes by @A6GibKm
Fix installer completion by @jntesteves
Fix deadlock of Popen.wait by @davidmartos96

Miscellaneous:

translation updates by @weblate
Use metainfo by @TheEvilSkeleton
Add accel for window.close and chain up vfunc by @A6GibKm
about: Add libraries to acknowledgements and remove slashes by @TheEvilSkeleton
Settings Rework by @jannuary

Patch notes can also be read on GitHub. The Bottles team recommends installing the Flatpak version for the best compatibility.

JSAUX Steam Deck Case -- The Ultimate Case?

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 11:39:12 -0500

It was nice of Valve to include a carrying case with their Steam Deck. There’s nothing wrong with it; it perfectly does its job. But if you something a little extra, it’s definitely worth having a look at JSAUX’s case.

It comes in a nice gray color, made of oxford cloth. Minimal branding; just the “JSAUX” text on the lower-right and nothing else. Just how I like it. There’s a yellow-colored case that’s set in similar vein to a Steam sale. Yuck. To give you an idea of what oxford cloth feels like, think of it as a similar material that the vanilla Deck case has, albeit a little more rough. All the while it’s right around the same weight as the vanilla case – I don’t have a scale here to compare weights, but they feel very similar.

Dimensions of the case are as follows:

328 mm x 155 mm x 94 mm (~13" x 6" x 4")

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It’s very similar in length and width to the original case, but where it differs is the height. It’s a couple of inches thicker – this allows the case to carry accessories in addition to the Deck itself. This bottom compartment allows you to add a power bank, a charger, earbuds, cables…pretty much anything you can think of.

A caveat is this compartment doesn’t make room for much. It’s only 6.7" x 4.3" x 1.38". When I put my power bank in there, I can’t fit anything else other than the USB-C cable that it needs. On the other hand, if the accessories are small enough, you could sneak in the official charger, a smaller power bank, and maybe even a charging case for wireless earbuds.

But there’s more than just the bottom compartment. There’s also a folding piece where you can fit up to five full-size SD cards (probably would be great for physical Nintendo Switch cartridges as well). Below that is a mesh pocket that you can hold other things – like charging cables, for example. Only complaint here is the “slots” where the SD cards go. These need to be full-size in order for them to properly fit, without them fiddling around. If you put in just a MicroSD card, it will be too small and won’t fit snug. I wouldn’t imagine most people these days carrying around with them the full-size cards anymore, even if they are adapters for the MicroSD versions – most devices will use just the MicroSD version, just like the Deck. Also, make sure whatever you put in the mesh pocket isn’t too thick. Otherwise, the flaps won’t fold properly when closing the case.

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A neat feature is one of the flaps also doubles as a sort of “kickstand.” You can fold it in a way that gives the Deck a comfortable place to rest, while giving you a good viewing angle. It’s a little wobbly, though – don’t go too crazy if you’re planning on gaming this way. It’s great while using the Deck in Desktop Mode with a keyboard and mouse, however.

When you put the Deck away in here, the two flaps go on top of the screen. The fleece material will not only protect against screen scratches, but the velcro connection will keep it secure in place. So, say for example you forgot to close the zipper. Then you pick the case up. The Deck won’t fall out! Very clever; works very similar to the Lifesaver accessory. I can also confirm the Deck still fits pretty well in here with the silicon cover that I have.

Here’s yet another feature. The case uses a “thickened EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) shell” for shock resistance. Again, I’m not going to be putting this to the test, but I have reason to believe the material will certainly help with shock absorption, should I ever drop it. The handle for the case is also a little nicer than the one the vanilla case has; it has this groove that makes it easier to carry. The zippers themselves are almost exactly identical – same color and shape.

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The box for the case is advertised as being “wear-resistant.” Supposedly the “concealed chain” prevents rust. I kind of just shrug my shoulders at that. I mean, if the case is still in the same shape ten years from now, I’d have reason to believe the claim. But it’s nice, I guess.

So is it worth the upgrade? Absolutely! In addition to being able to carry your Deck around, you’ll give it extra protection with the EVA shell. You can also conveniently carry other accessories, including headphones, chargers, SD cards, power banks, etc. The fleece flaps allow the case to be used as a kickstand, while also properly securing the Deck in place to prevent accidental drops when the case is unzipped, and protects the screen from scratches. It’s an awesome case, overall. Just know there isn’t much that you can carry in the bottom compartment, depending on the size of the accessory you’re putting in. In a future model I’d also like to see the “pockets” a little more narrow so MicroSD cards can fit nicely; they’re currently for full-size SD cards.

TL;DR

The good:

shock resistant
allows the user to carry accessories in addition to the Deck itself
fleece flaps protects against screen scratches, secures the Deck in place, and also acts as a kickstand
up to five full-size SD cards/adapters can be fit in
mesh pocket allows even more accessories/cables to be put in
retains much of the same dimensions as the original case

The not-so-good:

pockets for SD cards should have been designed to store MicroSD cards rather than full-size
bottom compartment can’t hold a lot of stuff, depending on what you put in

The JSAUX case is available on the official website and Amazon. I certainly think the $24 is worth the asking price!

Steam Deck case sent courtesy of JSAUX. Opinions are of my own.